


The Lion's Roar

by badel811



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Do-Over, F/M, Good Regulus Black, Gryffindor Regulus Black, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:42:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 24
Words: 52,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29248980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badel811/pseuds/badel811
Summary: The Storyteller is bored with the way Harry Potter's story played out. She decides to try a different scenario: sending a disillusioned, sad, hopeless, about to become a Death Eater Regulus Black back in time to his first train ride to Hogwarts. Deciding to take advantage of this unexpected second chance, Regulus decides to live for himself instead of for parents that don't love him. In doing so, he finds himself embroiled in adventures he couldn't have possibly imagined, armed only with cryptic warnings about what might happen in the future. He will perform magic he didn't know he was capable of, learn the secrets of powerful men, and fight in a war even more destructive and violent than the first time around.All the while, Regulus struggles with who he is and what he's meant to be: little brother, trusted friend, warrior, leader. Each battle leaves scars, and Regulus wonders if, by the time everything's over, there will be enough of him left for anyone to love, assuming, of course, that he makes it out alive at all.
Comments: 29
Kudos: 163





	1. Chapter 1

It was, perhaps, a bit cliche that there was a storm the night Regulus Black climbed up to the top of the Astronomy Tower. It was also ironic, that he was in a place normally used to view the stars in the night sky, and yet, inky black clouds obscured everything above them. The wind whipped his cloak around him violently as he stood in the open air. He was under the tower roof, yet that did little to stop the rain from pelting him, stinging his face, driven sideways by the relentless wind. No one in their right mind would be up here right now. But then again, Regulus wasn't in his right mind. 

In one hand he held a bottle of red currant rum, stolen from his father's office at home. It was already more than half empty, and when he reached the top of the tower, he took another healthy swig, relishing the spicy burning flavor as it went down his throat into his belly. He decided he would do what he came here to do when he'd finished the bottle, there was no point wasting it. 

Lightning crackled overhead as he looked over the edge of the parapet onto the Hogwarts grounds. There was a faint light coming from the Game Keeper's hut, but otherwise it was all dark. He knew the full moon had been two weeks ago, so he wasn't going to see his brother and his stupid friends running around the grounds in their illegal Animagus forms along with the unfortunate werewolf Remus Lupin. Yes, he knew all about that, in his mind, you'd have to be stupid not to, he had no idea how they'd gotten away with it, and to be honest, he didn't care. 

He was glad. Glad his brother was happy, that he had such good friends. That he'd gotten away from their foul parents, from their unreasonable expectations and their threats. It was too bad that Regulus couldn't have done the same. He didn't have friends like James Potter he could go to if he ran away from home, the people in his house only saw him as a Black, someone that was an important political connection, not a friend with feelings. As for his brother, well....he hated Regulus, now, didn't he? And who could blame him? Regulus WAS a coward. He WAS weak, and soft, and everything that Sirius had ever called him. 

In a few days, it would be time to go home, and Regulus KNEW what was going to happen. They were going to make him take the Dark Mark, to become one of HIS servants. To commit evil in the name of family pride, just because his parents didn't want to miss out on their seat at the new world order that they were sure the Dark Lord was going to bring about in Britain. It didn't matter what their son actually wanted, that had never mattered. Next to the prestige of the Black family name, nothing mattered. Sirius had seen that early, it was why he left, but Regulus had felt trapped with no way out. 

He foresaw only one way that becoming a Death Eater would go: his own death. Either at the hands of the authorities, or at the hands of the Dark Lord, being a servant to him would eventually kill him. But before it killed him, it would break him. Shatter him into a million pieces so that death, when it came, would be a relief. Well, if he was going to die anyway, he was going to make sure it would be on his own terms. For once in his time on Earth, HE would make his own decision, even if that decision was when to end his time on Earth. 

He drained the bottle of rum, and then made to throw the bottle over the side of the parapet. He changed his mind though, and set the bottle down on the ground. It wouldn't do for someone to hurt themselves on the broken glass tomorrow. Listen to him, he chuckled to himself, worried about strangers being cut on glass when he was getting ready to kill himself. How did his mother expect him to torture and kill Muggles? He'd never even been in a duel before that was outside of a practice setting, he didn't even like using bugs in his potions assignments. He really was pathetic. The epitome of the spare son, the useless appendage. 

Okay, how was he going to do this? The obvious answer was to jump off the parapet. It was a really long way down to the courtyard below, that would end him for sure. But he cringed at the thought of his body lying there, all crunched up, the blood everywhere. He was a Black, after all, and more than a little vain. He wanted to look his best even in death. Besides, there was always the chance that they would chalk his death up to an accident, that he drank too much and fell off. And he wanted everyone to know that he had done this to himself, on purpose. So he'd have to use his wand. He drew it from the holster in his robes and looked at it. There was only one spell that would do the trick, leave behind a corpse that was immaculate. He COULD use a Blasting Charm, but whoo boy, that'd be messy. 

Lightning flashed again as he pointed his wand under his chin. He shivered, suddenly realizing how cold he was. 

"A-Avada...K...Ke...shit!" he swore. WHY did Unforgivable Curses have to be spoken out loud? He was great at nonverbal spells, this could be over already! 

He took a deep breath, tried not to let his teeth chatter, and tried again. "Avada Ke..." his teeth started chattering. Damn it all, he'd waited too long! He'd stood up here like an idiot and gotten himself half frozen and now he couldn't say the spell! He couldn't even kill himself correctly! He wanted to scream into the night sky. 

Maybe, he should warm himself up first, you know, dry his clothes off with his wand, try again. No, no way. It had to be now, before he lost his nerve. This was going to be the one. He could feel it. He tightened his grip on his wand, cleared his throat.

"Avada..."

"That's not gonna work, you know."

Regulus jumped about three feet in the air. His wand slipped through his wet fingers, and landed with a clatter on the floor of the Tower. He didn't bother to pick it up though, he was too busy staring at the person in front of him. 

It was a girl, maybe about his age, with blonde hair and a bizarre sort of serene expression on her face. She was wearing Hogwarts student robes, with a Ravenclaw tie, but Regulus was positive that he'd never seen this person before. He would have remembered someone wearing earrings that looked like they were made out of tiny rutabegas and a truly gigantic hat in the shape of a lion's head, after all. 

"You're not the first person to look at me like that, you know," the girl said. "But honestly, you should see yourself. Soaked to the bone, with a wand under your chin trying to snuff yourself."

Regulus couldn't help but laugh. He suddenly figured out what was happening. He'd gone crazy. That must have been what this was. This was a figment of his imagination and it was here to let him know that he'd suffered a break from reality.

He threw his hands up in the air in a universal "what are you gonna do" gesture and then slumped against the wall of the parapet, sliding down into a sitting position. He could feel the water soaking the seat of his pants, but he didn't really care at the moment. 

"Is it okay if I sit down next to you? The weather makes it hard to speak to you, though it does provide excellent dramatic ambiance."

"I get the feeling you're going to do it whether or not I agree, so you might as well," Regulus said, wrapping his hands around his knees and pulling them into his chest.

"It's always polite to ask," she said loftily, and then plopped down without ceremony next to him.

"So, what name has my bizarre subconscious bestowed upon you, huh?" Regulus said, figuring that he might as well make friends with his delusions, it'd probably make his future insanity more bearable.

"You think I'm a hallucination," she said, and giggled. "Go on then, reach out and feel my hat. It's quite real and so am I."

"I really don't think that's..."

"Touch the hat, Regulus," she said, suddenly very serious. Regulus was frankly a little alarmed by the sudden shift, and before he knew it, he was reaching out and putting his hand on the lion hat. It certainly felt real enough. Acting on impulse, he moved his hand down and poked the girl's arm. She shrieked and slapped him away.

"I said the hat, not me, you beast!" 

"Sorry, I just had to make sure. Ow, that really hurt!"

The girl just shrugged. 

"Who are you then, if you're not a hallucination?" Regulus asked. 

"An excellent question. But you always were smart, weren't you? To be honest, I have been many people, many faces and names. Here at Hogwarts, I was once known as Luna. In another time and place, I was Angela, an herbalist. In another, Amanda, an immortal thief. I am the person in the story that is there, but not at the center of events. I watch what happens, and sometimes I play a part, to see what happens. You, Regulus, you can call me the Storyteller."

Regulus blinked at her. What she had just said made no sense at all. "Okay, let's pretend I understand you. What are you doing here, what do you want?"

"I've decided to tell a new story, Regulus. One that prominently features you in it."

"Me?" Regulus said in surprise.

"Yes, you. To be honest, I don't like how this story ended before, so I'm trying something new, you see. I particularly didn't like how YOUR part in the story ended, Regulus."

"What do you mean?"

"It's simple really. This night, you were unable to kill yourself. Eventually, you went back to your common room, and a few days later, graduated from Hogwarts. With no other viable option, you felt you had no choice but to join the Death Eaters. But your heart was never in it. A year and a half from now, you discover one of Voldemort's most closely held secrets. You betray your master, in secret, to try and stop him, but before you can tell anyone else the secret you know, it kills you."

Regulus suddenly felt very cold, a condition that had nothing to do with the weather. "I...I died? How?"

"Suffice it to say, not prettily. Surely you yourself already guessed that would happen."

"What about....what happened after?"

"The war, it consumed the entire wizarding world. Many, many people die."

"Sirius?" Regulus asked, his voice higher than usual.

"Yes, I'm sorry to say. His fate wasn't kind to him. The war claimed him, and eventually all his friends. It wouldn't end for 20 years."

"Oh my God," Regulus gasped, hugging himself tighter. An entire generation destroyed by war, it was like a Greek tragedy. 

"If I...if I killed myself tonight, would that make any difference?" Regulus asked. 

The Storyteller shook her head. "Very little. And it wouldn't change the outcome."

"Well, what do I do then? How do I stop this?"

"Unfortunately, there isn't enough time. You can't go forward. The only way, is to go back."

"Back? Back where?"

"September 1st, 1972."

Regulus thought about it for a second. "My first day at Hogwarts?"

"Yes. If you could go back, and make different choices, to keep you from ending up here, would you do it?"

"I mean, I don't see how that's possible...."

"Let's say it is. Would you?"

"Yes! I want to keep my brother safe! He deserves to be happy!"

"Is that the only reason?"

"Well obviously I don't want Voldemort to kill half the people I go to school with," he said sarcastically. 

"That's the spirit!" the Storyteller said, and she smacked the lion hat, which startled Regulus by letting out a loud roar.

"You are really bizarre," Regulus said, not unkindly. 

"Why thank you," she said smugly, and pulled a leather bound book out of her robes. "Here, take this."

"The Authorized Biography of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, Book 1, the Philosopher's Stone," Regulus read aloud from the cover. "What is this?"

"It's what will happen a decade from now if events were allowed to proceed as they are. There are seven volumes in all, you'll get one new one each year. If you read them, really read them, they will give you all SORTS of useful information on what you should do, Regulus."

"Oh...okay," Regulus said, like THAT made any sense. 

"But don't tell anyone else about them, ever," she admonished him. Regulus didn't think that would be a problem, he really didn't want to be locked up in the mental ward of St. Mungo's, so this whole episode would have to be kept on the QT.

"Great! Now that's settled, there's only one thing left to do." 

The Storyteller pulled out a large hourglass on a chain.

"A Time Turner?" Regulus said, in awe.

"Of a kind. This will take you on a one way trip back to the past."

Regulus had never heard of this kind of magic before. It kind of scared him. "And, how does it work?"

"Well...." she started, looking down for a second, then back at him, "You're not gonna like it. I do apologize in advance."

"What..."

She smashed the Time Turner on his forehead. 

"Ow, shit!" he cried out, his head exploding with pain. He could feel the sand trickle down his face, and then, as he watched, it started swirling around him, picking up speed, much more sand than had been in the glass to begin with. 

"Listen to me, Regulus!" The Storyteller shouted over the howling wind. "Do what you think is right, not what other people expect from you! And try and make yourself happy, too! I'll be watching!"

She disappeared then, swallowed up by the sand. Faster and faster it swirled, the entire world seemed to shrink down on him, and the only reason Regulus wasn't yelling in fear was because he didn't want to get sand in his mouth. He closed his eyes tightly, and then something pushed him forward from his sitting position, and he was falling, and then he made contact face first with something solid. And everything was quiet, except for a single voice.

"Oh jeez! Sorry about that mate!"


	2. Chapter 2

Regulus groaned and rolled over. White light shined right into his face and he cringed. Wait a minute, that wasn't right, where would lights in the...ceiling? Why is there a ceiling?

"Reggie, are you okay? James, I swear, if you broke my brother on his first day I'm going to chuck you off the train!"

"I said I was sorry! It was an accident!"

Wait a minute, he knew those voices....Regulus' eyes snapped open. Looming over him were his brother, Sirius, and his best friend, James Potter. Only...they didn't look right. They looked...younger.

Regulus sat upright, and the floor shook underneath him. Then he realized, he was on the Hogwarts Express. 

"Reggie, are you hurt? You took quite the fall there, little brother," Sirius said, sounding concerned. 

"I...umm..." Then he suddenly remembered. On his first train trip to Hogwarts, all those years ago. James had run into him from behind by accident and knocked him flat on his face. Back then, Regulus had gotten up all angry about it, spitting venom at the guy he already didn't like for stealing his brother away from him. It had only further reinforced his determination to be sorted into Slytherin. 

This wasn't right. How could he be here? His body felt wrong, smaller than he was used to. Sirius and James looked like they did back when...when Regulus was a first year. But that wasn't possible, was it? 

Suddenly, he realized the two of them were still staring at him, and he needed to say something.

"Oh, I'm fine Siri, don't worry, I just bumped my head a little, took me a second to get my bearings." Oh, his voice sounded SQUEAKY. What was the deal with that?

"Are you sure? Should we ask for the nurse?" Sirius said, still concerned. It gave Regulus a warm feeling, hearing his brother care like that. He'd missed it.

"I'm fine, really!" he insisted. 

"I really am sorry, you know," James said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. The first time around, Regulus had yelled at him, called him a clumsy git. This time, however....

"Oh, it's alright, James, no harm done."

"You know my name already!" James said, excitedly. "My reputation proceeds me!"

"Not quite," Regulus said, trying to cover for his mistake. "Siri called you James while I was on the ground. I put two and two together."

James suddenly turned on Sirius, an excited grin on his face. "He calls you Siri! How come I don't get to do that?"

"Because he's my brother and you're not, prat," Sirius said goodnaturedly. James pouted.

"Anyway, the boys already have a compartment picked out, do you want to sit with us, Reggie?"

"Hey! You don't get to call him Reggie!" Sirius said "Brother privileges, James."

"Oh whatever!" James said, pouting more. "You coming?"

This conversation hadn't happened before, and Regulus didn't quite know what to do. It gave him a good feeling though, he could work with that.

"Umm...yeah sure, I guess. Only, Siri, could you show me where the bathroom is? I probably look like a disaster right now, what with being pitched on the floor and all."

"You don't look THAT bad, you're just vain," Sirius complained. 

"Must be a family trait then," James said smugly.

"Oi! Come on Reggie, I'll show you." Sirius tugged on Regulus' arm and he followed his older brother down the center aisle of the carriage they were in. They found the bathroom, Regulus wasn't sure why he'd asked Sirius to show him, he'd been on the Express before, he knew where the bloody bathroom was. Maybe he just didn't want this nice version of Sirius to disappear from his sight, just in case.

"Do you want me to wait out here for you?" Sirius asked.

"If you wouldn't mind, I'll only be a minute."

"Sure, and then we can....Reggie, you want to sit with me and my friends, right? Only I never actually asked you..."

Regulus couldn't help but smile at how awkward his brother was being, it was honestly very funny.

"Yes Siri. I want to sit with you and your loud, obnoxious Gryffindor friends. I've heard about them all summer, now I want to see what they're like."

Sirius grinned. "Okay then."

Regulus ducked into the bathroom and closed the door. The truth was, he needed a minute to himself after what just happened. Five minutes ago, he'd been on top of the Astronomy Tower about to kill himself and now he was on a train and he was....

"Holy shit," Regulus gasped, as he looked at himself in the mirror. He was bloody 11 years old again! He was shorter, he hadn't gone through puberty, and as he'd already heard, his voice was....well, he hadn't sounded like THAT in awhile. 

Something was off though, as he swept his hair out of his face and looked at his forehead. There was a scar there, jagged, almost like what a drawing of a lightning bolt would look like. THAT wasn't there before. Regulus realized it was the same place that the StoryTeller had broken the Time Turner on his face. Did she do that? And why? How was he gonna explain the scar to Sirius when he saw it? 

He wet his hands in the sink, compulsively running them through his hair, still long like Sirius. He hadn't gotten it cut until later, when he was doing everything he could to distance himself from his brother. Okay, he thought to himself, trying to calm down, you can do this. Somehow, he was in the bloody past. He was apparently living his life over again, and to be honest, that was okay with him. He had a lot of things he wished he could do over again, do better. And the first and most important was standing outside the bathroom. 

He quickly straightened out his school robes, looking for a second at the black tie he was wearing with the Hogwarts crest on it. The magic of the castle would change it into whatever color House he was sorted into tonight. Right, let's not think about THAT right now, ugh.

He popped the door open and stepped back into the aisle. Sirius looked up at him, grinning. 

"All good, little brother?"

More than you'll ever know, Sirius, he thought to himself. What he actually said thought was "All good."

******

It was almost irritating how likeable Sirius' friends were when he was interacting them without a history of animosity hanging over the whole thing. He could honestly say he enjoyed talking to them: James, with his joyful excitement over the most mundane things, who hadn't yet grown into that arrogant cruel streak he displayed towards Snape, shy, polite Remus Lupin, who he was pretty sure hadn't told his friends he was a werewolf yet, even Peter Pettigrew, who Regulus had always thought of as more of a henchman than a friend to the group, was an active participant in the conversation and made Regulus laugh a couple times. And Sirius, well, when he was around them, he looked happier than Regulus had ever seen him at home. 

"So, Regulus," Remus said, after a bit. "You excited to start Hogwarts?"

Regulus nodded. He certainly was more excited this time around, yes.

"Which House you going for?" James said, because of course he would.

"I'm pretty sure that's up to the Hat to decide, isn't it?" Regulus said, raising an eyebrow. Sirius looked at him in surprise. He knew full well the pressure put on them by their parents, on Regulus especially after Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor, to uphold the family honor and go to Slytherin. But to be honest, if this were truly a do over, he didn't give a toss about what they thought anymore. He knew what their expectations were worth, after all.

The only problem was, he had no idea what the Hat was liable to do with him now. What if it still decided Slytherin was the best place for him? Hell, it could read his mind, what if it figured out he was from the future or something? 

"There's nothing to be nervous about, you know," Remus said, smiling. 

"Yeah, except for the part where he has to fight...." James started, but Regulus cut him off.

"Spare me the hazing, please, I already know how it works."

"Spoilsport!" James said to Sirius. 

"Don't look at me! Reggie's a little bookworm. He probably read that book Hogwarts, A History in two days when he got it!"

"You also told me about it in the first letter you sent home," Regulus pointed out.

James gasped. "The betrayal!"

"Oh shut up, all of you!" Sirius said, crossing his arms grumpily. Regulus burst out laughing at the expression on his brother's face, and soon the rest of the compartment joined in.

"Well, I hope no matter what house you end up in, you'll keep hanging out with us," Remus said to Regulus. "If for no other reason than you put that look on Sirius' face." 

Regulus could only smile at him, while across from him, Sirius had an odd look on his face, his eyes shone with something he hadn't seen before. 

******

Soon enough, the train was pulling into Hogsmeade Station, and as it came to a halt, Regulus' anxiety levels ramped up. Sirius held him back from leaving the compartment after the other three had left. 

"Listen, Reggie," he said, frowning. "I know what our parents have told you they expect from you, they said the same thing to me last year. What...what do you want to do?"

Regulus sighed. "They're going to hurt us anyway, Siri. It doesn't matter. I'm not going to ask for Slytherin for them, but I don't know what the Hat is gonna do with me, my head's a muddled mess."

"That makes me feel better, you know," Sirius said, brightening some. "I want you to get Sorted where you belong, not just because you're fulfilling some familial duty."

"And what if the Hat decides to put me in Slytherin anyway?" Regulus said, voicing a fear that lurked in the back of his mind.

Sirius surprised him by reaching out and grasping his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. 

"I promise Reggie, no matter what, we're still brothers. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Now go on, you've gotta take the weird boat trip with Hagrid," Sirius said, pushing him out of the compartment, laughing.

******

In spite of the conversation they'd just had, Regulus was still nervous when he walked into the Great Hall with the other first years. He was scared that the Hat would decide to put him in Slytherin, and the whole thing would start over again like it did before. But, he wouldn't fight it if that happened. Above all, he wanted to know where it was he truly belonged at Hogwarts. He wanted a proper Sorting, not one dictated by his parents' biases. Even if he ended up in Slytherin, he swore it would not be like last time.

"Black, Regulus!" 

Crap! He'd been in his own head for so long he'd missed the start of everything. And crap! It was his turn!

Feeling smaller than ever, he walked up to the stool and sat on it, and with a soft flump, the hat was put on his head by Professor McGonagall. 

"Ah, Regulus Black. What an interesting mind you have. Your parents would like me very much to put you into Slytherin."

"I don't really care what they think."

"Indeed, not. Exactly the attitude your brother had last year. But anyway, let's see here. You certainly could do well in Slytherin, you have the ambition for it. But you also have a clever streak to you, a thirst for knowledge that would suit Ravenclaw house. I also see within you, Regulus Black, a vast store of courage, yet untapped. You are braver than you even realize, I think. Yes, I think I know the place where you belong, unless you have any thoughts you wish to add?"

"Put me where I belong then," Regulus thought, allowing himself to hope.

"As you wish, my boy. The place for you, then, is GRYFFINDOR!"

There was a heartbeat of silence after the hat made its pronouncement. And then, from his left, he watched Sirius literally VAULT to his feet and began cheering wildly, followed quickly by James. The rest of the Gryffindors clapped loudly too, while the Slytherin table looked scandalized. Professor McGonagall took the hat off his head and gave him a small smile, one he knew was only reserved for members of her own House. With a quick nod at her, he came off the stool and started walking in the opposite direction from the table he'd sat at his whole Hogwarts career, and closer to his brother.

Sirius wrapped him in a bear hug so strong it lifted his feet off the ground. 

"I'm so happy, Reggie," he said into Regulus' shoulder while he was hugging him. "You have no idea..." His voice sounded thick, like he was trying not to cry. Regulus felt feelings surfacing for himself as well, and pushed them down, this wasn't the moment to go to pieces on everyone. Instead he just hugged his brother back tightly, relishing the feeling.

The Welcome Feast was the best meal he'd ever eaten in the Great Hall, hands down. It wasn't the food, it was the company. Everyone he talked to seemed to genuinely enjoy the fact that he was here amongst them. He found himself sitting with Sirius' friend group, Sirius practically kicking another student out of his spot on the bench so Regulus could sit next to him, and it was just like on the train.

"I'll start introducing you to everyone else tomorrow," Sirius whispered in his ear at one point. "But tonight I just want it to be us, okay?" Regulus, a mouth full of chicken, could only smile and nod. Sirius ruffled his hair. 

"Say, Regulus," Peter said, looking at him. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get that scar on your forehead?"

Crap. Regulus tried desperately to think of a good cover, because "some strange time traveling woman broke a Time Turner on my face" didn't seem quite up to snuff, but then, to his shock, Sirius cut across him.

"Oh, that was from our darling mother," he said darkly. "She hit him in the head with a flying wine bottle when he was 8. It broke open and cut him up pretty bad, I thought he was going to die."

Regulus' eyes widened. THAT hadn't happened. Had the Storyteller made up a fake backstory for the scar she'd given him? And how did that even work?

Sirius looked at him. "Sorry, Reggie. I know you don't like talking about your scar."

Regulus, for his part, recovered quickly. "I just don't like how it looks, is all." He didn't. It marred his face like a battle wound. He resolved to keep his hair long enough to hide it most of the time.

"Wow, your parents are a nightmare," James said. Everyone within earshot nodded. 

"Yes, I know. I can only imagine how they're going to react when word of Reggie's sorting gets back to them. Probably storm up here and demand that Dumbledore resort him or something."

"Fat chance of that," Remus said. "It didn't work last year with you, why would it work for him?"

Sirius shrugged. But then he leaned down to whisper into Regulus' ear. "I don't want you to worry about them, okay? We're gonna be fine."

"I'm not worried about them," Regulus whispered back. To his surprise, it was true. He wasn't worried about his parents, maybe because up here they seemed so far away, or, in the context of his "bigger" worries, his parents' reactions didn't seem as pressing.

Soon enough, the feast was over, and it was time to go up to the common rooms. Like the other first years, Regulus lined up with the prefects to take the grand tour, it was really bizarre thinking about going UP to Gryffindor Tower instead of DOWN to the Slytherin dungeons.

Regulus groaned when he got into the common room. Why was it so nice? Slytherin's common room wasn't like this. Then he realized that this was HIS common room now. What a bizarre thought.

He was introduced to his dormmates in the First Year Gryffindor Boys' Dormitory soon after: Frank Longbottom, Benjy Fenwick, a guy with close cropped hair named Jacob (Regulus missed his last name) and Dirk Cresswell. Dirk was clearly Muggleborn, he kept looking around at everything in wide eyed fascination, clearly never having seen it before. Regulus was surprised at how little he cared about stuff like that anymore. His mother might actually have a stroke. And to be honest, Regulus didn't really care. For the first time in his life, he felt at home.


	3. Chapter 3

The first month at Hogwarts passed by fairly quickly. Regulus became acquainted with the other members of Gryffindor House, people he had seen around the school the last time around but never really interacted with, like Lily Evans, who it was obvious James had a puppy dog crush on even as a second year. 

His classes were going exceptionally well. He was surprised to discover that he could still do all the magic he had already learned as a seventh year, which made him look like a prodigy in his first year classes. The professors would not stop raving about what a genius he was, which Regulus thought was a little unfair. Technically, this was his 8th year at the school, he should have SOME degree of magical competence, after all. The work itself was easy, but then, schoolwork had always been easy for him, and in this case, he'd learned all this stuff already. Regulus took an unexpected pleasure in helping his new dormmates with their schoolwork when they asked for it, nobody had bothered when he was in Slytherin.

Regulus had expected a Howler from his parents after word of his Sorting got back to them, but strangely, no communication from them came at all. They didn't come up to the school to angrily demand a conference with the Headmaster, they didn't send a Howler, they didn't send any letters at all.

"I don't get it," Regulus said after a month of this, raising the question to Sirius after another breakfast had ended with no letters.

"This is probably a new tactic. They want you to write them first, begging for forgiveness for disappointing them. They think giving us both the silent treatment is going to freak us out."

"Well it isn't going to work on me," Regulus said, but he wasn't being totally truthful. He was concerned with what they were going to do next, he had a feeling it wouldn't be pleasant.

"You and me against the world, little brother," Sirius said with a grin, holding his pinky out for Regulus to wrap his own little finger around, something they had done as little kids that they'd recently revived.

His relationship with Sirius had never been better. His brother was over the moon that Regulus was in the same House, and could show him all the tricks of living at Hogwarts. He seemed to really relish the "big brother" role, and had clearly been looking forward to the opportunity to do it without their parents being around. It hurt Regulus to think that he had denied this to his brother last time around because of his own stubbornness. No, Sirius hadn't been blameless in the fracturing of their relationship, he'd done and said some very hurtful, cruel things over the years, but Regulus had never made things easy for him, on purpose. 

He had been adopted into Sirius' friend group, the Marauders, they called themselves. James was particularly enthusiastic about Regulus hanging out with them, he kept trying to call him "Reggie", which Sirius refused to let him do, claiming it was "brother's privilege" he didn't have yet. Regulus thought the whole thing was very funny. He'd quickly been drawn into their shenanigans, and that was when Regulus realized how...amateur it all was. They got caught far too often for Regulus' liking, at least, according to the stories he'd heard from their first year that they told him. So, Regulus started to help plan the pranks and wild shit that they wanted to do, not only for maximum effect, but in a way that prevented them from getting caught, losing House Points, and getting detention. THAT, he knew, was part of his Slytherin side. But, the Marauders didn't complain. As for Regulus, he was shocked at how much fun he was having. Had it really been this easy to be happy all along? He couldn't believe he'd had his head up his own ass this entire time.

As if to remind himself what he'd escaped from, he had read the book the Storyteller had given him. He read the story of Harry Potter, the future son of James Potter and Lily Evans, he supposed, based on the descriptions provided for what Harry looked like. When he was a year old, in 1981, he'd been attacked by Voldemort, who'd murdered his parents and attempted to kill him. But some strange, ancient magic, triggered by his mother sacrificing herself for him, had shielded the baby from the Killing Curse, which rebounded upon Voldemort instead, apparently destroying him, and leaving Harry with a scar shaped like a lightning bolt on his forehead, that Regulus suspected probably looked exactly like the one that was on his own face right now. 

Harry, for his protection, had been sent to live with Lily's sister, Petunia, and her family. They were Muggles, and they treated Harry horribly for ten years, neglecting him, locking him in the closet, where they made him sleep, forcing him to act as their servant. Regulus was confused as to why this was allowed to happen. Where were James and Lily's friends? The book made no mention of Sirius, Remus, or Peter. It did talk about Dumbledore, but why didn't the headmaster check on this kid once or twice, to make sure his relatives weren't mistreating him? 

Well, anyway, Harry had been kept in the dark about his magic until his letter from Hogwarts came, and his aunt and uncle tried to prevent him from attending. It took Hagrid essentially kidnapping the boy for him to be able to go to school. The book detailed Harry's first year at Hogwarts, including his rivalry with Draco Malfoy, presumably the son of Slytherin sixth year and future Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy. Lucius, he knew, married Narcissa, one of his cousins, so that was probably Draco's mother. 

Severus Snape was the Potions professor during Harry's first year, and apparently had decided to take out his schoolboy grudge against James Potter on his son, which is exactly the kind of thing Regulus would expect Snape to do, the guy was a first class prick and he had been ever since Regulus had known him. In the timeline he found himself in now, Snape kept glaring at the Marauders during mealtimes, and Regulus glared right back. Snape had no reason to be sour, James hadn't done anything to him yet, at least, not specifically. Other than calling him "Snivellous", but if THAT was all he was worried about, Snape needed to get over himself.

The story of Harry's first year was dominated by the Philosopher's Stone, the ultimate alchemical invention, that turned any metal it touched into gold, and created the Elixir of Life, making the drinker of it immortal. Regulus already knew that Nicholas Flamel had created one, and he and his wife regularly used it, which is why they were more than 600 years old. Apparently, Voldemort wanted to steal the Stone to recreate his body and come back, which didn't make sense to Regulus because killing curses didn't make people into weird phantoms, it just killed you. It was kind of in the name of the spell. HOW was Voldemort still around, able to possess people?

Because yes, that's what he did to the hapless Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Quirrell, who Regulus guessed was the fidgety Ravenclaw student a couple of years ahead of him. He compelled Quirrell into doing his bidding, attempting to murder Harry Potter a couple of times and to steal the Philosopher's Stone, being kept under guard at Hogwarts to keep it safe, an ironic turn of events, all things considered. 

Initially, Harry and his friends suspect Snape of being the one up to no good, which is fair, because Snape is an asshole. But eventually, they expose Quirrell and thwart his plans, accidently killing him in the process because Voldemort couldn't touch Harry thanks to the whole "mother's sacrifice magic" thing from earlier. Then Dumbledore destroys the stone to keep it from falling into Voldemort's hands, kind of a dick move if you ask Regulus, especially since he could have done that to begin with and spared everyone this nonsense. And then, in the ultimate dick move, he sends Harry back to his relatives for the summer holidays, despite presumably knowing by that point how shitty they were. 

What exactly, was Regulus supposed to learn from this? He was a first year, he wasn't going to go steal the Philosopher's Stone to keep Voldemort from having it, which he didn't need anyway because he was, you know, still alive. He remembered the Storyteller informing him that there were 7 books, and that he'd get a new one each year. So he'd have to wait until the start of second year to find out more, he supposed. Until then, he figured he'd have to bide his time and just live in his new reality until then. 

And so, that was how things proceeded. That is, until Christmastime.


	4. Chapter 4

Their parents broke the silence a few days before the end of term. Identical letters on Black family stationary were delivered to the Black brothers with the morning post.

"You and your brother are expected at home for the Christmas holidays," Sirius read out loud. "She didn't even sign the bloody thing."

Regulus had a bad feeling about the letter in his hands. The writing lacked any kind of emotion, even anger. It was cold, clinical, not at all what you'd expect in a letter from mother to son.

"What do you suppose she's up to?" Sirius asked him. 

"I guess we'll find out when we get there," Regulus said darkly.

They were interrupted by James, whose attempt to talk to (read: flirt with as though he knew what that goddamn word even meant) Lily had ended with her setting his eyebrows on fire. Amid his shrieks and the laughter of the rest of the Great Hall, the two brothers put away their letters and rose as one to go rescue their wayward friend from himself.

******

"Listen, mates, I want you to write to us when you're at home. We want to know if you're alright," James said.

"I don't know that's gonna be possible," Sirius said gloomily. "I don't know what she's gonna do to us, but I'm going to guess it won't be a particularly fun holiday, James."

"But still, I'm going to worry about you guys," James said, uncharacteristically quiet. 

"The important thing is, Siri and I are together," Regulus said. "It'll go easier on us this way."

"Don't worry mate," Sirius said. "We've survived them this long, we'll be alright."

James surged forward and embraced them both, making Regulus feel extremely awkward, like he shouldn't be a part of this thing between James and Sirius. THEY were the best friends, after all.

Orion Black was waiting for them, alone, at the platform. That in and of itself was unusual, and immediately set Regulus on edge. He looked at them, expression unreadable, and said "Let's go," while holding his arm out. Regulus and Sirius exchanged a look, then grabbed ahold and they were Apparated to Grimmauld Place. As they walked through the front door, Regulus realized he'd forgotten how depressed this place made him. 

"Your mother would like a word in the drawing room," their father said, leading the way. This felt like an ambush, and the feeling was only reinforced when they were lead into the room to see not just their mother, but their cousin Bellatrix as well. 

The two boys said nothing, just as they talked about beforehand. Regulus had urged Sirius not to deliberately provoke their mother, to wait and see what happened. 

"Regulus," his mother said, sounding oddly formal. "Into what House were you sorted at the start of term?"

"Gryffindor, Mother," Regulus replied, schooling his face into a neutral expression. 

"I see. And how did that come to be?"

"The Sorting Hat believed that was the best place for me."

"Despite you insisting that you belonged in Slytherin?" she asked, and Regulus knew that was where the trap lay. There would be no going back from this, but Regulus was determined.

"I didn't insist on Slytherin, Mother. I asked it to put me wherever it thought I belonged."

"So, you are telling me that you willingly disobeyed me?" she said, her voice going up half an octave.

"Yes," he replied simply, "I did."

He didn't spare a glance at Sirius, he was too busy staring straight into his mother's eyes. Their father had gone to stand behind their mother, with Bellatrix next to her. Together they blocked the front door, the only means of escaping the house since the Floo Network was cut off and you couldn't apparate inside Grimmauld Place due to the wards. The only opening out of the drawing room was behind them, and that led upstairs. Regulus already had all of this figured out before his mother spoke again.

"Well, you have made our decision an easy one then. Neither of you will be returning to Hogwarts after the holiday. We are transferring you to Durmstrang Institute, a school that still respects magical traditions and hasn't been addled by Mudblood loving filth like Dumbledore. The two of you will be raised as proper heirs to the Black family."

"No."

It was not Regulus who spoke, but Sirius. Regulus saw his brother's face contort with fury, his hands balled into fists.

"I will NOT go to Durmstrang, Mother."

"WE are your family, you owe us your respect!" she said, raising her voice.

"I owe you nothing," he spat back. 

"I see you need to be taught a lesson in respect, boy!" his mother roared. "Bellatrix!"

Their cousin stepped forward, a wicked smile on her face. Regulus' heart dropped into his shoes. Bellatrix was known to be exceptionally cruel, and what was worse, she enjoyed it. It was one of the main reasons she was so attracted to the Dark Lord, he gave her license to exercise her worst impulses. 

"Crucio!" she cried, pointing her wand at Sirius. He collapsed to the floor, shrieking in agony. Regulus was shocked. Their mother had done a lot of foul things to them over the years, but she had never resorted to using an Unforgivable Curse. She must have called Bellatrix in just for this. 

Bellatrix hit Sirius again with the Cruciatus Curse, and again he screamed, the sound paralyzing Regulus with fear and horror. This...this hadn't happened before. If he hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor, this wouldn't have happened. Sirius being tortured was all his fault. 

Before he knew it, his wand was in his hand, and with an "Expeliarmus!" he sent Bellatrix's wand flying high into the air, coming down in his own hand. He gripped both wands in his hand and pointed them at his parents, who wore equally shocked expressions on their faces.

"You will NOT touch my brother again," Regulus said, his voice shaking. 

"Regulus put the wand down now!" his mother shouted. "How dare you!"

"No, how dare YOU!" Regulus retorted. "How dare you use the Cruciatus Curse on your own son! How dare you stand there and even pretend to care about us when you do nothing but hurt us at every turn!" 

Both his parents had drawn their own wands now, and it was a standoff. 

"You can't really think you'll get away, do you?" Bellatrix sneered at him. "There are three of us, and you're just a boy!" 

"Stand up Siri," Regulus said, not looking at his brother. "Stand up and start backing out of the room."

He heard Sirius groan and manage to shuffle to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw him try to draw his own wand on shaking fingers.

"You are of MY blood!" their mother shrieked at them. "You WILL obey!"

"Consider this my resignation notice!" Regulus replied, then dropped Bellatrix's wand into his left hand and pointed his own at the ceiling.

"Bombarda Maxima!"

A three foot chunk of the drawing room ceiling exploded downwards, showering the room with debris. With a crack, the chain that held the gigantic, 500 year old crystal chandelier broke, and the entire lighting fixture came crashing down, falling right on top of the three adults. Crystal shards flew in all directions, embedding themselves in the wall and floor. Miraculously, Regulus and Sirius were unharmed. Well, not miraculously, because Regulus had used Bellatrix's wand to cast a wordless shield charm over the two of them that protected them from the flying debris. 

"Go!" he shouted at Sirius, and pushed him toward the stairs. The two boys scrambled up the stairs, in the confusion, Regulus lost Bellatrix's wand. He heard a roar from behind them and some groaning in pain as they made it to the second floor.

"What are we gonna do?" Sirius asked him. "Go out a window?"

Regulus shook his head. "They're warded. We'll barricade ourselves in the study."

"The study, why there?" Sirius said in confusion.

A jet of green light hit the wall next to them.

"Just go!"

They ran down the hall, chased by screams and spells. They tumbled into the office, slamming and locking the door behind them. 

"Block the door with stuff!" Regulus said to Sirius, then looked over at the portrait hanging above the fireplace, which was currently empty.

"Professor Nigellus!" he called out. When no one answered, he moved closer to the portrait and yelled louder. "Professor Nigellus!"

Phineas Nigellus sidled into the frame. "What is it, young Black?"

"We need help! Our parents, they're trying to kill us!"

His words were punctuated with what sounded like an explosion. Sirius started scrambling faster to put bookshelves in front of the door.

"Tell Professor Dumbledore that we need help now!"

For a heartbeat, Phineas looked at him, as though surveying the scene, then nodded and left his portrait, hopefully to go to the other copy in Dumbledore's office.

"Do you think Dumbledore will help us?" Sirius asked.

"If he doesn't, we'll be under the Imperius Curse by nightfall," Regulus replied sullenly. "If they don't decide to kill us first. You know that was a killing curse, right? The one in the hall?"

Sirius nodded. Once they'd barricaded the door, they both hid behind the heavy desk. 

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked him. Regulus nodded. 

"What about you?"

"I think I'm okay. Still a little wobbly though."

"I'm sorry Sirius," Regulus said. "This is all my fault. If..If I hadn't gone into Gryffindor..."

"Hey now," Sirius said, grabbing Regulus by the shoulders, "this is absolutely NOT your fault. You said at the start of term, this was inevitable, and you were right. If you had been in Slytherin, they would have found another excuse to punish us, Reggie. All it would have done is make you miserable at school."

"But I..."

"No buts! I know where you belong, little brother, and you demonstrated it when you saved me, you know that? That was a very Gryffindor thing to do."

"I couldn't just stand there and let them torture you," Regulus said.

Sirius just squeezed his shoulders affectionately.

"Little babies, come out and play!" a muffled voice came from the other side of the door.

"Bellatrix," Regulus hissed. 

"Reggie, you did something very naughty, you wicked boy! I'm afraid you'll have to be punished most severely!"

There was a loud bang further down the hall.

Both boys realized how important silence was at that moment, but the look they exchanged told it all.

Another bang.

"Well if you're not in there, and not over there, then you must be...here!"

A third bang rattled the door in its frame, but the barricades held. 

"Bingo! But you've blocked the door, that's no fun! But you know, if you won't come out, and you won't let me in, then I guess I'll have to...Incendio!"

A blast of fire burst through the door, setting it and the barricades on fire. Regulus swore and ducked down behind the desk as a tendril of flame flew over their heads and set the books behind them on fire. Regulus put it out with a blast of water from his wand. 

"What do we do?" Sirius said. Regulus could tell he was starting to panic. 

"We don't need to put the fire out," he said quietly.

"What?!"

"We don't need to put it out! It's blocking Bellatrix from getting in here, if we put it out, she can attack us! We just need to keep the fire away from us and use the Bubble Head Charm so we don't breathe in the smoke."

"I don't know the Bubble Head Charm," Sirius said.

"I do."

And wordlessly, Regulus cast the charm on himself, then on Sirius. Thick black smoke soon filled the room, but the boys continued to breathe normally. Another spell from Regulus kept the smoke from stinging their eyes, but there was little he could do about the heat, other than soak them both in water and try to keep the flames away from them. Regulus screamed out in pain as some of the burning ceiling fell onto his left arm and set his robe on fire. This time it was Sirius who put him out, Regulus' arm blistered with pain though, and he knew that they were losing the battle. 

Out of ideas, he blew apart the floor of the study, sending wooden shards flying everywhere.

"Go!" he said, gesturing to the hole in the floor, and Sirius dropped himself through. 

"Come on! I'll catch you!" Sirius said from below him, and Regulus dropped down, and was caught by Sirius. Damn, he really was tiny. They were in the kitchen. 

"We're going to have to try for the door!" Sirius said, watching the flames lick at the hole in the ceiling and spread. Sirius took one step and stumbled. 

"Damn, I twisted my ankle."

Regulus had his brother put his arm around him, and he half dragged Sirius up the stairs and into the hall. His burned arm was screaming in pain, but he pushed on.

"You need to pour water ahead of us so we can get through!" he yelled at Sirius, and his brother started using the Aguamenti spell to try and clear a path for them. 

"There's the door, we're almost there!"

BANG.

Mere feet from the front door, the heavy bannister to the stairwell collapsed right on top of them. Regulus managed to push Sirius clear and he tumbled to the ground, but a oaken beam landed on his back, pinning him down. He tried to move but found he was trapped.

"Reggie!" Sirius cried, and dragged his way over to him. "I....I lost my wand, Reggie, I can't lift the beam!"

Regulus saw his own wand had been splintered by the fall, and he took a deep breath, knowing what he had to do.

"Siri, you need to get out. Leave me here."

"No! Reggie, I'm not leaving you here to die!"

"Go Sirius! Please!" 

Instead, Sirius grabbed his arms and tried to pull him free from the wreckage, but he couldn't get a lot of leverage since he couldn't stand up.

"Sirius!" There were tears in Regulus' eyes. "James and your friends, they need you. Go."

"Regulus Black, don't be an idiot!" Sirius said. "If you die, I might as well die too, because I need YOU, little brother."

Regulus was trying to think of another way to get Sirius to save himself when the door flew open with a bang, and there was Albus Dumbledore. 

"Help us!" Sirius said, looking at him. Dumbledore waved his wand, and the two boys suddenly flew through the air, colliding with the headmaster and sending the three of them tumbling out of the house, down the steps, and onto the sidewalk. Regulus looked up to see a huge jet of flame burst out of the door they'd just been at, likely drawn by the fresh oxygen provided by the opening of the door. All of Number 12 Grimmauld Place was on fire, smoke and flames pouring out of every window and breaking through the roof. Miraculously, the Muggle dwellings on either side of it were untouched, and in fact, nobody seemed to notice anything was happening at all.

Regulus groaned. He hurt all over, and suddenly he was very tired. It was like the adrenaline had worn off and now all he wanted to do was sleep.

"Hang on, boys, help is on the way," Dumbledore said softly. Regulus could hear Sirius calling his name, but it was like he was underwater. Everything was blurry....and then he blacked out.


	5. Chapter 5

When Regulus woke up, he was staring at white lights on the ceiling again. He realized he was in a bed, one that had rails on it. Hospital then. He'd never been a patient at St. Mungo's before, but he'd visited and participated in charity stuff there. He supposed that made sense.

There was a figure seated at the foot of his bed, head hunched over. He'd recognize that head of hair anywhere.

"James?"

James snapped his head up. "Regulus! You're awake! How do you feel?"

"Thirsty."

James jumped out of his chair and held out a cup with a straw in it. 

"I'll hold the cup, just drink."

Regulus did, and he felt better. Like he could actually talk.

"I'm glad you're awake, mate. Sirius has been going spare."

"Where is he?"

"Just down the hall. They refused to put you two in the same room in case...well, while you were still asleep."

"Is he...okay?"

"Yeah he's fine mate! They're giving him potions to deal with the nerve damage the curse gave him, and when they scanned him, they found some past injuries that had healed improperly, so they fixed them too. It's YOU we were all worried about, you've been out for three days!"

"Oh, God," Regulus said, leaning back against the pillow. "What happened to me?"

"Maybe that's best left to the Healer, yeah? Let me page them."

He pushed a button on the wall.

"James, what are you doing in here, with me? Shouldn't you be with Sirius?"

James gave him an odd look. "I have been with Sirius. Remus, Peter, and I have been rotating back and forth between here and Sirius' room so you'd have someone sitting with you."

"But I don't understand, he's YOUR best friend, isn't he?"

James seemed to understand, and cracked a smile. "Did you hit your head in that house, you doughnut? You're one of my best friends too, Regulus!"

"Oh," Regulus said quietly. That hadn't even occurred to him.

"We need to work on your self confidence, little mate," James said with a laugh. Just then, the door opened and a Healer wearing the standard green robes came into the room. 

"Ah, Mr. Black!" the Healer said. "Good to see that you're awake! You gave us quite the scare!"

"So I've heard," Regulus grumbled. 

"I'm Healer Spleen, and I'm your attending. How are you feeling?"

"Alright, I guess. I don't really feel any pain."

"That's good!"

"Can you tell me what happened to me?"

"Well, there were two major injuries we were concerned about, Regulus. The first was a crushing injury to your lower back."

Regulus remembered the damn bannister falling on him. 

"One of your kidneys was very badly damaged, I'm afraid we had to make the decision to remove it surgically while we fixed the remaining internal damage."

"You WHAT?" Regulus said. "You took out one of my organs?"

"My dear boy, calm down. Yes, we removed one of your kidneys. However, the human body has two of them, and you are perfectly capable of living a full and long life with only one working kidney. You will however, have to take some potions for the condition, we can go over that later."

Great, just great. He was half an invalid already. 

"What's the second injury?"

"I'm err...gonna go tell Sirius and everyone that you're awake," James said, excusing himself out of the room. 

Well. THAT didn't bode well.

"Regulus," Healer Spleen said gently, "Your left arm was very badly burned. Unfortunately the synthetic fabric you were wearing melted in the heat and stuck to your skin. We had to operate for quite a while to remove all of the debris so you wouldn't get an infection."

"So you fixed it, then?" Regulus said, not really liking the tone of voice the Healer was using.

"Well, yes, you're no longer in danger. But, unfortunately, the skin was destroyed. We had to graft new skin onto your arm to repair the damage. There is a lot of scarring on your arm, Regulus, and I'm afraid we can't do anything about it."

Regulus swallowed hard. "I need to see it."

"Regulus, I..."

"Please."

Healer Spleen sighed and waved his wand, vanishing the bandages on his arm. Regulus sat up and looked at it. From just above his left wrist all the way up to his shoulder, his skin was an angry red color. Wrinkly lines ran up and down his arm, touching them, he could feel how they broke up his previously smooth skin. Regulus choked back a sob, looking at it. God, he was hideous now.

"The redness will fade back to your normal skin color, and the scars won't be as noticeable," Healer Spleen said, trying to be helpful.

"Is that everything?" Regulus asked, trying to remain calm.

"Medically, yes. I am happy to report that you're doing well, and now that you're awake, we should be able to get you released soon, probably tomorrow. Your brother will be ready to go then too."

"Okay. Thank you, Healer Spleen."

"Looks like some folks are here to visit you, I'll just step out and let them in, alright?"

"Can it be...just my brother first, please? He's the only one I want to see me like this. I'd like you to put the bandages back on after he sees them."

Healer Spleen nodded, then left the room. He came back pushing a wheelchair with one very annoyed brother in it. 

"I don't see why I have to ride this stupid chair, I can walk just fine....Reggie!"

Before the Healer could stop him Sirius was out of the wheelchair and had taken his right hand. His good arm, Regulus thought bitterly. 

"Are you alright Siri?"

"I am now! They haven't let me see you before now. I was worried I was gonna lose you."

"I almost wish you had left me," Regulus said, sadly. "Look at my arm, Siri. It's going to be like that forever. I'm a freak now."

"Don't say that, Reggie, never say that. I need you, you know. And you're not a freak."

"Yes I am, and you don't need me, you have your friends." Regulus was aware he sounded petulant, but he felt he was entitled to a little self pity right now.

"My friends aren't my little brother, Regulus. You're not a freak, you're just a person who bad things have happened to. It doesn't change who you are."

Something about Sirius looked...off. Then he realized.

"What happened to your hair, Siri?"

Sirius looked grumpy. "They cut it off! Can you believe that? One bump on the head and they practically shave me bald! It's going to take forever to grow back!"

Regulus tried not to laugh at how pouty his brother was being. Then he stopped, something having just occurred to him. 

"Did they shave my head too? Siri, am I burned anywhere else? Is my face all burned up?"

"Hey, hey, Reggie, calm down. No, your hair is fine. Your face is fine. You look just as cute as you always do," he said, poking Regulus' nose for emphasis. Regulus resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I...I don't want anyone else to see...." he gestured at his arm "...this."

"And nobody else has to, Reggie. But I'm glad you showed me."

As if on cue, Healer Spleen waved his arm and the burns were covered again by bandages. 

"I'll give you two a minute," he said, then left the room.

"Listen, Reggie," Sirius said. "I have to tell you what happened before you hear about it from someone else. The whole thing's been all over the papers, it's a zoo."

"What happened, then?"

"The house...it's gone, Reggie. It burned up completely, until the chimney fell in. There's nothing left."

"Shit," Regulus said. He wasn't mourning the loss of Grimmauld Place specifically, but all his worldly possessions being inside, and Sirius' too.

"That's not all," Sirius said, looking down at the bedspread. "Mother and Father....well, they're dead."

"What?! How?"

"After Bellatrix set the house on fire, apparently she fled, and just left them there. They were both unconscious after the chandelier fell on them, and....they didn't get out."

"Oh my God," Regulus said, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. "I killed them."

"No! Hey, Regulus! No, you didn't!" Sirius said firmly. "This is not your fault, understand? None of this is your fault. And I'm not just saying that. The Aurors came and looked at my memories the day after, they played them on a big screen in the room there. They've already ruled that everything you did was in self defense, justified given the situation. They blamed the deaths on Bellatrix. She started the fire. She's a wanted criminal now, she's gone into hiding, her picture is on the cover of the Prophet and everything."

That didn't really make Regulus feel better, and it must have shown on his face, because Sirius went on.

"And let me tell you something else, Regulus. After watching that memory with the Aurors, there is no doubt in my mind that you saved my life that night. You saved both our lives with what you did. My mind was just swiss cheese after Bellatrix cursed me, but you....you reacted."

Sirius hugged him, putting his head on his chest. Regulus couldn't help it, it was too much. He started to cry, to cry ugly, which he hated because of how it screwed up his face. 

"It's okay, little brother, just let it out," Sirius said, still hugging him. After a couple minutes, after he'd composed himself and wiped his face, Sirius stood up.

"The others are outside, shall I bring them in?"

Regulus nodded, and Sirius turned away.

"Sirius?"

His brother turned around. 

"I love you."

"Yeah, I love you too, Reggie. Just don't tell anyone, it'd be bad for my reputation."

Regulus snorted and Sirius smirked at him, the bastard. Then he opened the door and said "Oi! Get in here, you lot!"

Predictably, James Potter was the first one in the room, saying nothing but grinning like an idiot. Then came Remus and Peter. 

"Hey Regulus, how do you feel?" Remus asked as he got to the bed. 

"Like I almost died, apparently. At least, that's what everyone keeps telling me."

"Well you did! They took out one of your kidneys!" James protested.

"I wonder if they kept it," Peter said. "Wouldn't you like to see it? It's yours after all, maybe they put it in a jar."

Everyone looked at him strangely.

"That's weird mate, you're weird," Sirius said after a second. Everyone else laughed. 

Regulus then locked eyes with the other person in the room, and he gasped.

"Andromeda?" he said in surprise. He hadn't seen his cousin since she'd been disowned a couple of years ago for marrying Ted Tonks, a Muggleborn. 

"Hello, little cousin," Andromeda said, smiling at him. "I'm glad to see you're up and about."

"Me too, it's good to see you," Regulus said. "But...what are you doing here?"

Andromeda sat down in the chair next to the bed. "The Ministry contacted me as soon as they'd figured out what had happened. I'm really sorry about your parents, Regulus."

Regulus could only nod mutely, his feelings about them were too conflicted now.

"Under the circumstances, it was decided that I be awarded custody of you two boys," she continued. "Assuming of course, that you want to. I know you're a Gryffindor like Sirius is, Regulus, so I hope that means you don't share my parents' views about my husband. So, what do you think, would you like to come home with Ted and I?"

Regulus looked at Sirius, who smiled encouragingly. "I've met Ted, Reggie. He's a nice guy."

He looked back at Andromeda, who'd always been the nicest of his cousins, and nodded. "Yes, I'd like that."


	6. Chapter 6

Regulus and Sirius were released from the hospital the next day. Their first stop was Grimmauld Place. Regulus was shocked by the destruction wrought on his childhood home. Two of the brick walls had fallen in on themselves, and the chimney as well. As for inside....well, nothing remained but ash and burnt wood. Apparently the fire raged out of control because once it reached the many dark objects contained within the house, a series of explosions ripped through the upper floors. Ministry first responders had to evacuate the house for their own safety.

Sirius kicked a piece of burnt wood out of the way as they walked through the ruined house. 

"Do you think there's anything left?" Regulus asked him. 

"What do you think?" Sirius said, gesturing around.

"Well," said Regulus, trying to look for silver linings, "we still have the money in the Gringotts vault. Like, a lot of money."

"That's true," Sirius chuckled, "We may be orphans, but we're RICH orphans."

"And you're a lord now," Regulus pointed out.

"Oh damn it. That's right. Honestly I was hoping I'd get disowned before I had to do that."

"What, and stick ME with it?" Regulus laughed.

"Oh come on, you'dve enjoyed it, Reggie. All dressing up in fancy clothes, going to balls, hobnobbing with Slytherins..."

"Oh shut UP Siri," Regulus said, smiling in spite of himself. 

"Excuse me, are you the Black brothers?"

Regulus and Sirius turned to see a man standing on the sidewalk wearing a train station uniform.

"Yes, why?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I have your school trunks here. They were never picked up from King's Cross, you see."

He gestured at the trunks sitting on the ground next to him.

"Huh. Kreacher normally goes to get the luggage," Regulus said. "Come to think of it, I didn't see any of him that night."

"Maybe he's dead too," Sirius said, shrugging. "To be honest, I hadn't really thought about him."

"Call out to him, you would be his master now," Regulus said. 

"Kreacher!" Sirius called. Nothing. The house elf, bound by magic to appear when called by their master, was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, that settles that then," Sirius said. "I'm sorry Regulus, I know you liked him."

Regulus DID like Kreacher. And it was sad for him to think about the poor elf being burned up in the fire. Despite what everyone told him, he still blamed himself for everything. 

"Let's get out of here, Siri," Regulus said. "I don't ever want to see this place again."

******

They went to Diagon Alley next, to buy new clothes and new wands, since they'd both lost theirs in the fire. At Twilfitt and Tattings, Regulus bought a dozen long sleeved undershirts with magical cuffs that would only ride up on his arm if Regulus physically pushed them up. He wanted to make sure no one saw the scars on his arm, which were just as ugly as he feared they'd be. He knew it was vanity on his part, which was admittedly one of his flaws, but he also didn't want people to look at him with that pitying expression they tended to give people who'd suffered misfortune.

At Ollivander's, he was expecting to get a lecture from the wandmaker because he'd barely had his wand for six months before losing it, but Ollivander merely said that it wasn't his fault and sometimes these things happen. After trying out some different wands, Ollivander eventually settled on an 11 inch wand made of holly with a phoenix feather core. Regulus thought the description vaguely familiar, but didn't think anything of it until later, when he was perusing the book the StoryTeller gave him again, and suddenly realized that the wand he had now had been the wand that Harry Potter had been given by Ollivander, and that its brother was Voldemort's wand. 

"Well that's...weird," he said out loud. The more he thought about it, the more weirded out he was. He had a lightning bolt scar on his forehead, he was now an orphan, and he was carrying the same wand. Was he...becoming Harry Potter?

******

The funeral was exactly as depressing as he thought it was going to be. He sat in the front row next to Sirius, wearing tailored black dress robes (brand new, of course, the only clothes he still had were the contents of his school trunk) and listened with a blank look on his face while the archbishop eulogized his parents. Two caskets sat side by side in front of him, closed, of course, he didn't really want to contemplate what the bodies looked like in there.

Regulus wasn't sad that his parents were dead. He honestly wasn't. He had realized before he'd gone back in time that his parents didn't really care about him, or Sirius for that matter, they only cared about the family honor and the legacy of the Blacks. If they had actually loved him, they wouldn't have shanghaied him into joining Voldemort. And events since coming back here had only proved the point. Really, bringing in cousin Bellatrix to use the Cruciatus Curse on presumably both their sons? His mother in the end didn't even have the guts to torture them herself.

What Regulus was thinking about now was just how different everything was here. He had been absolutely miserable the last time around at Hogwarts, could a change of House really make that much of a difference?

"Put me where I belong, then." That was what he'd told the Sorting hat. And the hat sorted him into Gryffindor. He didn't think his mind or personality had changed that much, which meant....which meant that he didn't belong in Slytherin in the first place. The only reason he'd been sorted there the first time was because he'd asked for it. Repeatedly, and insistently. And why? Because he had been afraid of disappointing the two people lying in the caskets in front of him. They had really set him up for failure from the start.

But now? Now they were gone, and he was in Gryffindor, and he had Sirius by his side, and James bloody Potter said that Regulus was one of his best friends. This was truly a fresh start for him. And even before the fire, he'd already fully intended to make the most of it. 

It was interesting who had attended the funeral. Andromeda was there, of course, but she was escorting Sirius and Regulus. Their other cousin, Narcissa, was also there, escorted by Lucius Malfoy. Bellatrix, obviously, wasn't there, she had a 10,000 galleon price on her head and was being actively hunted by the Auror Department as a murderer. Interestingly, the girls' parents were not in attendance at the funeral.

"They are ashamed at what Bellatrix has done," Narcissa said when Regulus asked. Andromeda snorted, and he knew that she thought it was because they didn't want to see her. Neither of their grandfathers attended the funeral either, but their uncle, Alphard, and great aunt, Cassiopeia, did, as well as their aunt and uncle, Ignatius and Lucretia. That brought members of the Prewitt family, and also the Weasley family, including Arthur, Molly, and their young sons William and Charles. Charles looked like he was newly born. 

Regulus remembered that Harry Potter's friend Ron had a brother named Bill, which probably meant that Arthur and Molly were his parents. They seemed nice enough, but he wondered why they were there, they must have known that Orion and Walburga would have considered them blood traitors and scum, so on. Perhaps Andromeda had invited them.

Fortunately Regulus' blank face was mistaken for the typical Black aristocratic mask that he'dve been expected to wear at the occasion, so no one gave him any issue. Still, when it was over, and they'd returned to Andromeda's home, he couldn't get out of the dress robes fast enough. He'd recently discovered the virtues of Muggle clothing, specifically t-shirts (with his undershirt underneath, of course) and jeans, as well as imported Muggle shoes from America called "Converse sneakers." And, well, he was hooked. 

"Is it bad that I don't want to ever have to think about our parents again?" Sirius asked him, coming into Regulus' new room. 

"No, I don't think so. It's over now, all we can do is move forward, right?"

"Yeah, you're right. Can I tell you something, Reggie?"

"Sure."

"I was afraid when you started at Hogwarts. I was afraid that you were going to turn out to be like them, and I was going to lose you."

"I know."

"Can I....can I ask what changed your mind?"

Well, Regulus couldn't very well say "I had an epiphany 7 years from now," could he? 

"I...well I guess it was James."

Sirius quirked an eyebrow. "James?"

"Yeah. When he bowled me over, you know, on the train. I wanted to be mad at him, but he gave me that goofy smile of his, and I don't know, I just couldn't. So I decided just to sit with you guys and see what happened. You talked about your friends all summer, I could tell how happy they made you, and I don't know, I thought maybe I'd get to do that too."

Sirius smiled at him. "James has that effect on people. The guys all like you, especially James. Hell, most of Gryffindor House likes you, I overheard Lily Evans telling Marlene McKinneon that she thought you were 'adorable.'"

Regulus blushed in spite of himself. "Really?"

"Yeah, don't tell James though. It would ruin his Christmas."


	7. Chapter 7

The other half of Regulus' first year passed by quickly and uneventfully. The Hogwarts gossip mill soon became bored by the dramatic story of the Black orphans, and moved on. As months passed with no sighting of Bellatrix Black, the Daily Prophet stopped talking about her as well. Regulus suspected she was hiding out with Voldemort, who hadn't openly started his war on the Ministry yet, so he probably wasn't even in the country. 

Spending the summer holiday with Andromeda and Ted was like a breath of fresh air for Regulus. They made several visits to James' house, and Regulus met his parents, who unsurprisingly were kind people he instantly liked. They didn't see a lot of Remus, and Regulus knew why, though he didn't say anything. The others would figure it out soon enough. 

The start of Regulus' second year snuck up on him, and he'd essentially forgotten that he was going to get the second book from the Storyteller until he opened his trunk upon arrival at Hogwarts and saw it sitting there next to the first one. Volume 2 was entitled "The Chamber of Secrets." Regulus felt like he'd heard that name before but couldn't put his finger on it.

After he'd gotten settled in at school, he began to read the new book at night. Harry Potter's 2nd year at Hogwarts was dominated by the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, something Salazar Slytherin supposedly left behind to purge Muggleborn students from the school, a monster that attacked students and left them petrified. 

Harry found the Chamber of Secrets, and battled the monster, a basilisk, killing it with the Sword of Gryffindor, and then stopped the memory of Tom Riddle, Voldemort's real name, who'd apparently possessed a girl using an enchanted diary that Harry destroyed with a basilisk fang.

Once again, no mention was made of any of James and Lily's friends. Regulus started to wonder if maybe the Storyteller was fucking with him. HOW could a giant, fifty foot long snake with poisonous fangs and eyes that could kill with a single glance be living under Hogwarts for a thousand years and nobody notice? 

Regulus decided he was going to have to do more research later. But he put it out of his mind for now, because it was time to try out for the Quidditch team.

******

Traditionally, first year students weren't allowed to play on the house teams (although Regulus noted with some degree of bitterness that Harry Potter HAD been allowed to do so in the first book), so Regulus hadn't really paid attention to the sport last year except to cheer on James, who'd made the team as a Chaser. It was a little weird to contemplate playing for Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, but such was the world he now lived in. Regulus was a lion, and not just because his name literally meant "lion". Honestly, his parents were just asking for a Gryffindor naming him that.

To his great amazement, when the time came for tryouts for the Gryffindor team, he was the only one who turned up to try out for Seeker. 

"Where is everyone?" he'd asked James. James had laughed.

"Weren't you paying attention last year? The team is rubbish. It's been rubbish for 20 years. Some people think it's cursed."

"How do you curse a Quidditch team?" Regulus asked incredulously.

"Don't ask me, I don't know. Supposedly the only reason Frater is the captain this year is because nobody else on the team who's returning is old enough. I heard Frater beg McGonagall not to pick him, I think she had to bribe him with chocolate or something."

"There is no way that Minnie would bribe a student to do anything," Regulus scoffed.

"What can I say? She really likes Quidditch."

The captain, Hamish Frater, was a nice enough guy, but he clearly seemed overwhelmed. He had a tendency to talk to himself, like he was psyching himself up. He just seemed happy Regulus had shown up to play Seeker, so they had a full team.

Regulus quickly understood what James had meant by the team being cursed. The practices were always an exercise in lunacy. Players crashed into each other, or the goalposts, or the ground, with alarming regularity. Nobody came to watch them, not even the Slytherins, who normally liked a good laugh at Gryffindor's expense. Regulus overheard Nott telling Parkinson that he felt sorry for them, which honestly was worse than mocking.

"You're really good," Frater told Regulus after one practice. 

"Umm...thanks," Regulus said awkwardly. 

"Can I....Regulus, how can we make the team better?" Regulus stared at the seventh year Quidditch captain, asking him, a second year, for advice. Only his youthful education of gentility prevented him from hanging his mouth open at the absurdity.

"Do you want my honest advice, Hamish?" he finally asked. Frater nodded.

"I know you don't want to be captain, but the team needs leadership. When the Keeper is goofing off instead of practicing, you have to yell at him. Know what I mean?"

"I, uh....Regulus, can you..."

"No, Hamish, I am not yelling at our teammates for you," Regulus said in exasperation. "Another thing, we need new brooms. I have one, and James has one, but everyone else is using the school brooms that are like 50 years old."

"Brooms are expensive, Regulus! The school isn't going to pay for those!"

"Oh come on, there must be someone! A rich Gryffindor alumni, some store in Diagon Alley that wants to sponsor us, something!"

Hamish looked stumped. Regulus idly wondered if someone had dropped a Beater's bat on his head as a child. Not for the first time in his life, Regulus wished he had the money to just give away to people who needed it. Wait a minute.....he DID have the money! Half the vault in Gringotts was his now!

"I'll take care of it, Hamish, don't worry," Regulus said reassuringly.

Three weeks later, five brand new broomsticks were delivered to the Gryffindor Quidditch team, paid for by an anonymous benefactor. There was widespread speculation as to who it was, but nobody knew for sure, though Sirius and James just smirked knowingly at Regulus across the breakfast table as Frater raved about generosity. Regulus, being the cool customer that he was, just smirked back, though when he glanced up at the teacher's table and caught eyes with Professor McGonagall, and she toasted him with her goblet, he couldn't help it if his skin flushed a little.

******

"I don't understand how you miss the Bludger, lose the grip on your bat, and knock out our own bloody Keeper with it!" James said in the team huddle, irate. Regulus looked over his shoulder as Madam Pomfrey lifted the unfortunate Gryffindor player onto a stretcher. Everyone else was staring at the other Beater, who just kept mumbling "sorry" over and over again.

"What the hell are we going to do?" Frater said. "We're already down 50-20, and with no keeper, Ravenclaw is just going to run crazy all over us!"

"We don't have a backup?" Regulus asked, dismayed. 

Frater gave a nervous high pitched laugh. "Backup?! We're bloody lucky we have a starting Keeper! Unbelievable, this team really is cursed!"

"Shut up and calm down, Hamish!" Regulus snapped. Everyone looked at him, surprised. Regulus normally liked to be mild mannered around other people, but this was getting on his nerves.

"Here's what we're going to do. You five are going to guard the goals, understand? Keep the Quaffle out of the goal, throw the bloody thing on the ground, whatever you have to do! Don't attack their goal, stay around ours. I need you to buy me time to catch the bloody snitch, which I can do before the other Seeker, I know it, but it won't do us any good if we're losing by 200 when I catch it, got it?"

"How is that even supposed to work?" Frater said.

"Figure it out, captain!" Regulus snapped. He whirled around and stalked out of the huddle. 

"You better do what he says," James said as Regulus walked away. "Last time I saw him this angry, he set Peter's eyebrows on fire."

Regulus smiled in spite of himself.

******

"And another...well, not save, it's technically not a save since he's not a Keeper, I guess block? I'm going with block, yes, another block by Potter, this unconventional goal defense strategy seems to be working as the Ravenclaw Chasers can't break through Gryffindor's defense!" 

The student commentator seems very confused and excited at the same time, mirroring the crowd, which watched with fascination as five Gryffindor players swarmed around their own goal posts, throwing the Quaffle to each other to keep it away from the Ravenclaws.

Meanwhile, Regulus was on his own, searching for the Snitch and under fire. The Ravenclaws seemed to have figured out what they were doing, because their Beaters were relentlessly going after him, and the Ravenclaw Keeper had abandoned his own goal to try and obstruct Regulus' movements. He was constantly dodging Bludgers and players blocking his path, all the while searching for the Snitch, which he could see the Ravenclaw Seeker doing from above the pitch. 

Regulus streaked towards the Gryffindor goal, chased by both Bludgers. With a flash, he was past his teammates, and over his shoulder he watched Frater come up and smack one of the Bludgers. It careened into the other one and sent both of them flying in opposite directions. Regulus was blocked again by the Ravenclaw Keeper. James saw this and apparently decided to make him pay for it. He suddenly took off across the pitch, Quaffle in hand, towards the Ravenclaw goal posts. He was pursued, too late, by most of Ravenclaw's team.

"Potter scores! He's caught out the Ravenclaw Keeper and put one through, the Ravenclaw lead is now 50-30!"

James headed back towards the Gryffindor goal, looking entirely too pleased with himself as the crowd cheered. He saluted Regulus as he went past. Regulus scoffed at what a showoff he was being, then took off again because the Bludgers were after him again.

It went on like that for an hour. James had caught Ravenclaw's defense out twice more and tied the score while the Ravenclaw Chasers were unable to find a way through the thicket of Gryffindor brooms. Regulus had been chased all over the field, but nobody had been able to lay a ball or a hand on him. He could feel himself starting to get tired, though, he hadn't flown this much in a while, and the exertion was killer. 

Then he saw it, the Snitch, hanging out in the middle of the field. He took off towards it, swearing when he realized that the Ravenclaw Seeker had seen it at the same time. They were approaching each other from opposite sides, like jousters. Regulus knew they were going to crash into each other, and he was okay with that if it meant getting the damn Snitch and ending the game. 

His hair ruffled as a Bludger went over his head. The Ravenclaw Seeker's eyes went wide as he realized, too late, that it was now heading straight for him. Regulus cringed as it bonked him right in the face, and he veered off. Just as the Snitch went to move also, Regulus reached his hand up high and snagged it. He looked over at his opponent and suddenly realized that he'd been knocked unconscious and was about to fall off his broom. Without even thinking about it, he reached out and grabbed the boy just in time, using both hands to hold him upright, guiding them both towards the ground. 

He swore when he realized that he'd let go of the Snitch, realizing he'd have to go catch the damn thing again. But then Madam Hooch was blowing her whistle, and the commentator was yelling that Gryffindor had won. Oh right, he only had to catch it once.

The Gryffindor stands went wild. It was the first time in three years they'd won a game. Regulus was focused on getting the other player down safely, which he did, only then allowing himself to be swept up into the celebrations. He knew this stunt they'd pulled wasn't going to work again, that they'd need to come up with a new strategy if they were to have any chance against Hufflepuff and Slytherin, but for now, he just let himself relax as James hugged him and lifted him up on his shoulders.


	8. Chapter 8

Andromeda had a surprise for them when they came home for the Christmas holidays. This surprise took the form of a tiny infant whose hair was almost constantly changing from black to brown to fire engine red and back again.

"You didn't even tell us you were pregnant!" Sirius said accusingly as he and Regulus beheld their new 1st cousin, once removed. 

"Surprise!" Andromeda said brightly. "I want both of you to be Nymphadora's godfathers."

"Nymphadora? She's going to HATE that name, Andy!" Sirius laughed. "Wait, godfather, what?"

"He means we'd be honored, Andy," Regulus said, smacking his brother upside the head. 

For about the millionth time, Regulus remarked upon his change in fortune. In his old life, he'd known that Nymphadora Tonks had existed, he'd heard about her birth from someone, Narcissa perhaps. But he'd never met her, obviously. And now he was one of the baby's godfathers. 

He smiled at the baby in Andromeda's arms, who opened her eyes and looked at him. A second later, he found himself staring back at a carbon copy of his own face.

"Okay, Andy, that's creepy," Regulus said. 

"No argument from me," Andromeda replied, looking a little alarmed.

******

For the first time in months, Regulus thought about the Chamber of Secrets a few days later. Determined to research the subject as best he could, he got permission to go to Greater London's Central Wizarding Library, conveniently hidden underneath The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. All you had to do was push the elevator button for the basement six times and then the top floor 3 times. 

He headed to the periodicals section first. Harry's book, as he had begun to think of it as, had referred to a past opening of the Chamber of Secrets fifty years before the events of his story. And he had a date for when Harry's story took place, 1992, thanks to the description of a cake at Nearly Headless Nick's "five hundredth death day celebration."

Harry Potter is really too nice, Regulus thought to himself. Who in their right mind would want to go to a party for a ghost? 

The Daily Prophets for 1942 were particularly grim. The Global Wizarding War was in full swing, and although Great Britain was relatively unaffected by Grindelwald's atrocities, the press still loved reporting on the gruesome details. Honestly, Regulus figured the only reason that the Muggles hadn't caught on to the existence of wizards during that time period was because they were busy with their own globe spanning war at the time. Grindelwald was hardly subtle.

But then, in October 1942, new headlines began to dominate the front pages of the Prophet. Muggleborn students were being petrified at Hogwarts, someone had written in chicken blood on the walls, proclaiming the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. 8 students were attacked over the course of 5 months. The 9th, a fourth year named Myrtle Warren, had died. Then, just as it seemed the school would be closed and the students sent home for their own safety, a fifth year named Tom Riddle caught a third year, Rubeus Hagrid, who had smuggled an acromantula into the school and was keeping it in a school cupboard. The attacks had stopped after that, and Hagrid had been expelled.

Regulus stared at the last article, which described Tom Riddle being awarded a Special Award for Service to the School from the headmaster, Professor Dippet, and marveled at the level of bullshit on display here. It was truly astounding. 

Now, Regulus was hardly Newt Scamander here, but even he knew that acromantulas didn't petrify people, couldn't kill people without leaving a mark. They were dangerous, sure, but not THAT dangerous, especially when you were talking about a single spider, not a swarm, and if it was small enough to be kept in a cupboard, it obviously wasn't big enough to pose a threat to most people. 

Further research in the magical creatures section only confirmed this. The attacks fitted the pattern of a basilisk to a tee. WHY had nobody made the connection? Regulus sighed as he realized the reason. Ignorance, and prejudice.

It had occurred to Regulus a long time ago that wizardkind tended to rely too much upon their magic and didn't bother to learn deductive reasoning skills or logic. When almost all problems can be solved by waving a magic wand, people got lazy, the same way the ancient Romans grew lazy in developing agricultural technology because they had slaves to do it for them. The fact that Regulus knew of that comparison and most didn't spoke to the prejudice most wizards had towards non wizards, which Regulus could guarantee was part of the problem here. Hagrid was a half giant, a mongrel in the eyes of people like his parents, of COURSE he would unleash a monster on students and claim to be the heir of Slytherin. As far as the magical creature aspect went, well, to most wizards, one horrible beast was interchangeable with another, let's just blame the hideous giant spider and call it a day.

Everything that had happened in Harry's book was true, Regulus realized. Tom Riddle, the teenager that would become Voldemort, had found a basilisk underneath the school and sicced it on students until he killed one. Then, realizing that the school would be closed and he'd get sent back to the orphanage he came from, which he hated, he framed another student for his crimes, and made himself out to be a hero in the process.

It curdled his stomach to think that at one point in his life, he would even consider serving under such a man as this. And it frustrated him that there was nothing he could do to prove any of this. What was he gonna say, a book from the future told him what happened? 

It also left two alarming realizations that he didn't know what to do with. One, apparently there was a diary that Voldemort had enchanted to teach other students how to open the Chamber of Secrets out there somewhere, and two, there was a gigantic fifty foot long poisonous snake with killer eyes just hanging out under his school, just waiting for someone to come and wake it up.


	9. Chapter 9

It was Valentine's Day, so of course, James Potter needed to make a complete fool of himself. He'd asked Lily Evans to be his Valentine, in the loudest and most obnoxious way possible. 

"You should consider yourself lucky that all she did was slap you," Regulus said afterwards at the breakfast table, as James nursed his ego and his smacked cheek. "You totally humiliated her."

"Reggie's right, James," Sirius said. "You've got to stop doing this or she might actually murder you."

"Murdered for love, wouldn't that be romantic though?" James said, dreamily. Everyone around him sighed heavily.

Later that day, Regulus was walking alone on his way to Charms when he came across James and Severus Snape in a deserted corridor with their wands pointed at each other. Snape, it seemed, was determined to get revenge on James for this morning's incident with Lily. 

Regulus tried to be a good boy and stop the fight, and all he got for it was a painful cut above his right eye. Exploding with frustration, he sent Stinging Hexes at both of them, making them drop their wands, then turned on his heel and stormed off. He burst into a nearby bathroom, grumbling to himself.

"Don't even know why I bother, next time I'll just let them kill each other, goddamn idiots...."

He surveyed the damage in the mirror. Fortunately it didn't look that bad, so he ran the water at the sink to start wiping the blood away.

"What are YOU doing in here?!"

Regulus turned to look at the source of the voice. It was Moaning Myrtle, the perpetually crying ghost.

"Washing my face, what does it look like?" he said, irritated.

"No, I mean, this is a GIRL'S bathroom!" she said, gesturing at the stalls for emphasis. And so it was, Regulus supposed he hadn't been watching where he was going. But he really didn't feel like arguing the point, he was angry and probably late for class already.

"Well, if there's any naked girls about, you'll let me know, won't you?" he said, turning back towards the mirror. Myrtle shrieked in frustration and flew into one of the stalls. By the splashing sound, he assumed she went into one of the toilets. What a way to spend eternity, he thought to himself, haunting a toilet in a boarding school.

The door banged open again just as Regulus got the bleeding to stop. 

"Black."

Regulus sighed and gripped the sink harder than strictly necessary, but didn't turn away from the mirror.

"If you're here to hex me, Snape, we'll have to reschedule. You already got me once today."

"No that's not....I wanted to apologize. That wasn't meant for you, it was meant for Potter."

Regulus finally turned to look Snape in the eye. "It shouldn't have been meant for anybody, Snape. You think I don't recognize dark magic? In the family I grew up in? You're gonna get yourself expelled, and for what? It's like you enjoy antagonizing James."

Snape got defensive. "He enjoys it just as much and you know it, Black."

"Bullshit. I've told James and Sirius to stay away from you, Snape. I told them it wasn't worth getting in trouble starting fights with you all the time, and they haven't, I would know if they had. So that means today, you, Snape, went after him."

Snape stared at Regulus for a second, then finally said, "He likes Lily."

And there it was. 

"You know, Severus, if you actually allowed Lily to make her own choices about who she wants to hang around, instead of fighting over her like a cliché damsel in distress, you might have a better chance with her."

Snape looked uncomfortable for a moment, then sighed. "I suppose you're right. You know, you're not so bad for a Gryffindor, Black. Not like what they say about you in the common room."

Regulus scoffed. "Oh really? And what does the Slytherin common room have to say about me, Snape?"

"That you...well, that you...."

"That I killed my parents? Is that what you were going for?" Regulus said, raising an eyebrow. "I've heard it before, you know."

Snape didn't say anything, and Regulus looked back into the mirror, before Snape finally blurted out "Well, did you?"

Regulus frowned, looking at the older boy for a second before speaking.

"Have you ever seen someone subjected to the Cruciatus Curse, Snape?"

Snape shook his head.

"It's hard to describe for someone that hasn't experienced it firsthand. Try to imagine someone you love subjected to torture while you watch, Snape. That you could hear their screams of pain, that the person doing it to them was a member of your own family. Ask yourself, what would YOU do to stop them, if you could?"

He got closer, until he was right up in Snape's face. 

"But to answer your question, no, I didn't kill them. My cousin Bellatrix is the one that set the house on fire. It was my cousin that fled the house and left the unconscious bodies of my parents there to die, along with my brother and I. All I did was defend myself against people that wanted to hurt me and Sirius. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat. You can take THAT back to the Slytherin common room if you like."

"What's going on here?"

Regulus actually rolled his eyes. Of bloody course it was James.

"Nothing, James. Snape was just leaving, actually, weren't you Snape?"

He gave Snape his best "don't start shit" look, and Snape turned away. 

"You stay away from Regulus, Snivy. He's done nothing to you."

"Yes, I hear he has you on quite the leash, Potter, doesn't he?" Snape drawled. 

"What did you say?" James said, flaring up and drawing his wand.

"Guys, we don't need to do this again, please!"

"I was saying, Potter, that Black here seems to be good at telling you what to do. Maybe that's what you get off on, huh? Maybe that's why you like Lily so much?"

Snape had also drawn his wand. James looked about ready to burst, and Regulus was ready to curse Snape himself for being so goddamned stupid.

BOOM!

A loud crack rent the air, and the floor of the bathroom split. Regulus, James, and Snape jumped to the side as the crack ran all the way to the door.

"What did you do, Potter?!" Snape yelled, in a panic.

"I didn't do anything, what did YOU do?!" James yelled back.

"Oh my God, will you both shut up and run for the door!" Regulus yelled. 

But it was too late. The entire floor seemed to shatter like a pane of glass hit by an errant Quaffle, and the three boys dropped down, clanging against a metal pipe that was underneath them. It acted like a slide, propelling them down for a long time, all three of them shrieking, until it spat them out on a roughly shaped surface that Regulus could barely make out in the dark.

He groaned and rolled over, checking himself for any injuries. There didn't seem to be any.

"Are you two alright?" he called out.

"Yes!" Snape replied.

"I'm fine!" James said, lighting his wand. Regulus did the same, and a second later, so did Snape.

"Where the hell are we?" James said, looking around. 

"Some kind of abandoned plumbing cistern, under the school, it looks like," Snape said. 

Regulus was looking at the floor. It was covered in what looked like bones. Rodent bones, he realized. Then his heart clenched. Oh....oh no. Shit.

"Well how do we get out of here?" James was saying. "We can't go back up the way we came."

"There's a tunnel over there," Snape pointed out with his wand.

"I think we should just wait here, you guys, until help comes," Regulus said quietly, trying not to panic, which was hard because he totally knew where they were.

"No way, that might not be for hours, that rumble could have affected the whole school, besides, how would anyone know we were down here?"

On the one hand, it was hard to argue with that logic. On the other, Regulus really, REALLY didn't want to go down the tunnel. But it wasn't as though he could explain why, could he?

"Well I'm not scared to go down the tunnel," Snape said, starting off that way.

"Well I'm not either!" James said, following him.

Regulus sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, then followed, grumbling again.

"Stupid assholes, going to get us all killed, unbelievable. And on Valentine's Day, too...."


	10. Chapter 10

Regulus trailed behind James and Snape, who continued to bicker with each other as they made their way down the tunnel. He kept quiet, straining his ears listening for any noise or movement. He was having to physically restrain himself from screaming and running the other direction.

Regulus hated snakes, he was terrified of snakes. The very idea of a basilisk was pretty much his worst nightmare. Honestly, considering how much he didn't like snakes, he was surprised he'd ended up in Slytherin last time around. But then, he hadn't found out until later that the Slytherin banner was a snake. He wasn't impressed, that was for sure.

Suddenly, they turned the corner, and emerged out into a large room with high ceilings. The walls were decorated with elegant carvings, all of serpents, Regulus realized. Water poured down them into pools on the floor, giving the carvings an eerie shimmer, almost like they were moving. The stone floor was raised in the center, providing a pathway to the other side. When the three of them stepped fully into the room, enchanted torches burst into flame from sconces all over the room, providing light. 

Regulus gasped. There it was, on the other side of the room. The basilisk was coiled up on the floor, a huge mass of poisonous green. Its head was on the ground, eyes, fortunately, closed. 

"What the hell is that?" James said, spying the serpent. "Some kind of statue?"

Snape shook his head. "I don't think so. It's like a huge snake."

Regulus had to bite his lip to keep from whimpering. The other two heard him anyway and turned to look at him.

"Regulus? What's wrong?"

"It's a basilisk," Regulus said quietly. James looked confused, but Snape's eyes widened.

"Are you sure?"

"It can't be anything else."

"Is it...is it alive?" James asked. Regulus nodded.

"It's asleep. For god's sake, we need to be quiet. We CAN'T wake it up."

"Fuck," Snape said under his breath. "We have to get out of here."

"We should go back," James said, gesturing where they'd come from.

"No," Regulus said. "It's a dead end. If it wakes up and follows us, we'll be trapped. We're going to have to....go past it, and find another way out on the other side."

The other two boys looked at him like he was crazy. And he probably was. But that wasn't his fault, he was just trying to make the best of it.

"You think I want to get any closer to that thing? We have to. But listen. If you see it start to move, at ALL, you run, understand? And do not look at it! Close your eyes if you have to. If you look into its eyes, you will die, instantly. If you look at a reflection of its eyes, you'll be petrified, understand?"

"Anything else?" James said weakly.

"Yeah, its fangs contain one of the deadliest venoms on Earth that can kill you in minutes," Snape said dryly. 

"Oh that's perfect."

Regulus bent down and took his shoes off. "We need to be quiet." The other two copied him, tying their shoes together around their necks. 

Regulus found that an entire childhood's worth of practice sneaking around Grimmauld Place served him well now, as his socked feet padded softly on the stone floor. Snape and James followed him, matching his pace. Closer and closer they crept to the sleeping basilisk, Regulus' heart was beating so loudly in his chest he was sure the others could hear it. 

Regulus held his breath as they walked around the snake, the beast's breath wafting over them and making Regulus' hair stand on end. He saw a tunnel just ahead, and made for that. They were so close now, almost there....

And then a rumble from above them made them all freeze. With a crack, a piece of stone the size of an apple broke free from the ceiling. As if in slow motion, Regulus watched in horror as the rock fell, until it struck the basilisk right on the top of the head.

The monster opened its mouth and roared, and Regulus' blood ran cold.

"Run!" he said, and they broke for the tunnel. Behind them Regulus could hear the basilisk moving.

"Don't turn around, don't look at it!" he called out. 

"Shut up and run Reggie!" James called back. 

They fled into the tunnel. 

"It's behind us!" Snape yelled.

Regulus was trying to think what the hell they were going to do, but panic flooded his brain, running on pure flight instincts now.

They came to a fork in the tunnel. 

"Which way?" James said. 

"The left one!" Regulus said. Then he had an idea. "But throw your shoes in the right one on the way past! It might confuse it!" 

They did so, chucking their shoes down the other tunnel as they ran past. 

"I don't think it bought it!" Snape said. They could still hear roaring and hissing behind them. 

"Move!" James pulled Snape behind him, then waved his wand.

"Incendio Maxima!"

Blue flame shot from his wand and coated the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tunnel, crackling the lichen on the walls and creating a barrier.

"That ought to hold it for awhile. Let's go!"

The three continued to run. The tunnel ended, and as they emerged from it, Regulus realized, to his horror, that they were back in the main chamber where they'd first seen the snake.

"We just went in a bloody circle!" James said.

"What are we gonna do now?!" Snape moaned. 

"I don't see any other way out of here," James said. 

"Back to where we started then?" Snape said.

"No," Regulus said, causing them to both look at him. He knew what had to be done.

"That pipe we came down....it's big enough for that snake to fit, isn't it?"

Snape and James both stared at him, uncomprehendingly. 

"If we lead it down there, it can escape from here. Up into Hogwarts."

"What are you suggesting then? That we fight that monster?" Snape said.

"What choice do we have, Severus?!" Regulus yelled. "We can't let it get past us. Tell me there's no one up there you'd want to protect from a rampaging basilisk."

"Gryffindors," Snape said under his breath. 

"Look, you two can go if you want. I'm staying here."

James rolled his eyes. "That noble shit doesn't work on me, Reggie. I'm with you."

He looked at Snape. "What do you say then, Severus? Will you be my valentine? I know its not a very romantic date, but hey...."

"Unbelievable. Three years we've gone to school together and that's the first time you've used my name. We really are about to die."

James raised his eyebrows.

"Of course I'm bloody with you!" Snape said, throwing his hands up in the air. 

"That's the spirit, Sevvy."

"Never call me that again."

"Can we focus please?" Regulus said. "We have to take out its eyes."

"Conjunctivitis Curse usually works well on dragons and such," James said. 

"It might buy us a few minutes," Regulus agreed. 

There was a roar and a bang from the tunnel.

"Here it comes," Snape said.

All three of them aimed their wands. Regulus was breathing hard. Despite his brave speech, he was still terrified, still convinced he was about to die. 

"There!"

The basilisk stuck its nose out of the tunnel, and all three of them fired at the same time.

"Conjunctivo!"

The beast roared in pain as the spells struck home. Regulus chanced a look at it and saw that its eyes were puffed up, crusted over, and most important, shut tightly.

"It worked!" James said. 

"Yes but it can still smell and hear us," Regulus said. 

"Spread out!" Snape said. "Divide its attention, like they do with dragons."

Snape ran across the room, firing spells at the basilisk. James ran the other way, shooting a stunning spell at it. Regulus knew that wasn't going to work. They'd need twenty wands to stun something that size.

How the hell were they supposed to kill this thing? Harry Potter had done it by stabbing it with the Sword of Gryffindor. But none of them had a bloody enchanted sword, so that option was right out. What did the book say?

Spiders flee before it, while the basilisk flees only before....

"Sectumsempra!" Snape cast the same spell he'd used before, that had accidently hit Regulus. A cut sliced open the basilisk in the flank, causing it to roar and sending blood spattering everywhere. The monster whirled on Snape and advanced towards him. But James, on the other side of the room, enchanted a chunk of rock to fly across the room and strike the basilisk in the snout. Unfortunately, when the basilisk turned back towards James, its' tail swung around violently, and struck Snape, sending him flying. He slammed into the wall and slid down to crumple into a heap on the floor, unmoving.

"Shit!" Regulus said. The snake have smelled blood, because now it turned again back towards Snape and advanced on him, ignoring James' spells. Regulus reacted without thinking: he ran towards the beast, wand raised.

"Hey, slimy!" he yelled. The basilisk stopped and turned towards him, and Regulus fired.

"Expulso!"

The basilisk shrieked as one of its eyeballs exploded in a shower of blood and gore. It banged its head on the ground, writhing around, shrieking. Regulus jumped around the creature and made for Snape, who he began to drag out of the line of fire. James came over and helped him, and soon they had Snape's unconscious, but thankfully still breathing, body lying at the entrance to the chamber.

"Now what?" James asked Regulus. 

"I'm going back in," Regulus said.

"I'm with you, then."

The pair of them must have made quite a sight as they walked back into the chamber. Barefoot, spattered with basilisk blood and slime, but with wands raised and faces set.

"Bombarda!" Regulus blew up one of the statues looming over the basilisk, causing the pieces to rain down on it. The largest piece landed on top of its' tail, crushing it.

"That ought to hold it," Regulus said in satisfaction. Then, to their shock, the basilisk turned towards its own tail and chomped through it with one bite, severing it in a shower of blood.

"What the hell?!" James said.

"It can grow its tail back, like a lizard! Shit!" Regulus said.

"This thing is remarkably hard to kill," James commented. 

How WERE they going to kill it? All they'd done so far amounted to pricking it with pins and needles. The basilisk must have smelled them again, because it started dragging itself towards them, leaving a trail of blood behind from its severed tail.

Then Regulus remembered. "The basilisk only flees before the rooster, whose cry is fatal to it."

That was it! But where were they going to get a chicken? Oh....

Regulus turned to James, who was staring at the approaching basilisk. "Do you trust me?"

"What?"

"I said, do you trust me?" As though punctuating his point, the basilisk stopped and roared at them.

James had now turned to look at Regulus, confused. "Yes, of course I trust you."

Regulus pointed his wand at James.

"Wait, what are you...."

With a flash and a bang, James was gone, and where he'd stood before there was a large white rooster. Regulus scooped it up.

"Okay James, I need you to crow for me, please."

Chicken James remained amazingly obstinate, not crowing, but pecking at Regulus' hands and flapping his wings trying to escape his grip. Meanwhile, the basilisk was almost on top of them, Regulus could feel its breath on his face.

"I'm going to die holding a chicken," he groaned. "Goddamn it, crow, you bastard!" 

And he jabbed his wand into the chicken's side.

"Cockle doodle doo!" Chicken James squawked, right in the basilisk's face. The basilisk stopped moving towards them, and Regulus watched as its brain short circuited. It reeled backwards, slamming into the wall, then the floor, until it finally crashed into one of the pools, sending a massive wave of water gushing everywhere. It let out a pitiful death rattle, then it was still.

"Oh my God," Regulus said, letting out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Holy crap. Holy...why am I still holding you?"

He set Chicken James down on the ground, and with a wave of his wand, James was returned to his human form, sprawled on the floor.

"What the..." James sat up in a sitting position, looking around wildly. Then he pointed at Regulus.

"You turned me into a chicken!"

"Yes," Regulus said, trying to catch his breath.

"Why? Why would you turn me into a chicken?!"

"Because of that," Regulus said, gesturing at the corpse of the basilisk. James stared at the body in awe.

"It's dead, you killed it?"

"Technically, YOU killed it."

"As a...chicken?"

"Yes, as a chicken."

"Wow."

Both of them stared at the basilisk for a few seconds, then James turned and nudged Regulus.

"Guess Lily was right about me after all."

"Huh?"

James raised his eyebrows and smiled. "I really do cock things up, don't I?"

Regulus snorted, then both of them were laughing, all the tension of the previous minutes draining away.

"Oh my God, I can't believe we just did that!" Regulus said through his laughter.

"I can't believe we just did that with Severus Snape of all people!" James added, and they laughed harder.

"I can't wait to tell Siri that you were a chicken!" Regulus said.

James stopped laughing immediately. "Don't you dare."

"Just think of what Lily would say!" Regulus sang, turning back towards Snape to check on him.

"Regulus, that's not funny. You're not actually going to tell people about that, are you? Reggie? Goddamn it stop laughing!"


	11. Chapter 11

It was hours before they were discovered. The battle had collapsed the tunnel that they could have used to get back to the surface, so they were forced to wait until someone came to get them. That didn't stop Regulus from recovering their shoes, however, despite James' protests ("They're CONVERSE, James, you wouldn't understand"). 

Snape had a few broken bones and a concussion, but would make a full recovery. James and Regulus, after being checked out by Madam Pomfrey, spent several hours in Professor Dumbledore's office, with both of them sharing their memories in Dumbledore's Pensieve.

"I am very proud of you boys," Dumbledore said when they were finished, a twinkle in his eyes. "Your actions are amongst the most courageous in the history of Hogwarts."

"Wait, does that mean we're not in trouble?" James said incredulously.

"My boy, why would you think you were in trouble?"

"I don't know, I just kinda assumed we broke at least one school rule somewhere along the line."

"On the contrary, Mr. Potter, I think Special Awards for Services to the School are in order for all three of you, as well as 150 points apiece to your respective Houses."

James looked elated. "We should find more stuff to kill if that's what we get out of it, Reggie!"

Regulus gave him a look of absolute disdain, while the Headmaster chuckled.

******

It turned out that the reason the floor in the bathroom collapsed was, of all things, a meteorite. Ironically, a meteorite hit the Astronomy Tower, and the old thing collapsed. The resulting shockwave shook the old school down to the foundations, and there was extensive damage. Apparently the floor on the 2nd floor bathroom was weakened by the plumbing work put in underneath, and the tremor proved too much for the old masonry. 

Fortunately, nobody was killed, though there were a number of injuries, not including Snape. Snape was released from the hospital wing two days later, and he tracked down Regulus, who was with the other Marauders (it having been decided to formally induct Regulus into the group already). 

"The Headmaster told me what you did down in the chamber, Regulus," Snape said. "I came to say thank you."

Regulus was never very good at this kind of thing, so he scuffed his shoe on the ground and said quietly "Don't mention it."

"Severus?" It was James. Regulus held his breath.

"The three of us, we worked really well together, down there, you know. I was thinking...."

James looked around at his friends awkwardly. Remus pushed his shoulder and that seemed to get James going again. 

"I was thinking we should call a truce between us. No more feuding, random hexes in the hallways..."

"No more pranks?" Snape said, eyebrow raised.

"....No more pranks that specifically target you. Good enough?" Sirius asked.

Snape sighed. "I supposed I'll take what I can get."

James held out his hand, and Snape shook it, and Regulus thought hell must have really frozen over.

"Does this mean we can't call him Snivellous anymore?" Peter asked as Snape walked away.

"Yes, Peter, that's what it means," Remus said, exasperated. 

******

Another person who sought Regulus out was Hagrid. He'd never really had much to do with the gamekeeper before, even this time around, but he'd nevertheless decided the right thing to do was to clear the poor guy's name. The day after they'd defeated the basilisk, Regulus had gone to see Professor Dumbledore.

"I've been doing some thinking," Regulus said. He told the Headmaster that he knew about the attacks of 1942, and that he'd looked through old copies of the Daily Prophet, and that to him, the pattern of the attacks matched those of a basilisk, which they both knew now had been lurking under the school the whole time.

"If someone was a Parselmouth, they would have been able to control the basilisk by speaking to it in its language," Regulus reasoned. "Do you know anyone that went to school back then that could have been?"

Dumbledore's eyes had darkened, and Regulus knew the old man had finally figured out what Tom Riddle had done all those years ago. 

"It certainly wasn't Hagrid," Dumbledore finally said.

"I agree. How do we clear this up?"

It turned out to not be that difficult. The Minister of Magic, Eugenia Jenkins, was visiting Hogwarts that day, to view the damage to the school and in particular to investigate the presence of a basilisk underneath the building. Once Dumbledore had taken her to see the corpse of the snake for herself, she didn't need much convincing that it, and not Hagrid's pet spider, was to blame for the attacks 30 years previously. The next day's Daily Prophet listed, among stories about the fight to kill the basilisk and the destruction the meteorite had wrought on the old building, that Rubeus Hagrid was officially cleared of responsibility for the Chamber of Secrets attacks of 1942, and that he was to be permitted to purchase a new wand at Ministry expense and practice magic freely.

Hagrid had found Regulus in the Great Hall, eating lunch, and had wrapped the poor boy in a hug that lifted him clear off the ground. He was mostly incoherent, crying as he was from happiness, but Regulus got the idea anyway. Hagrid spent the next week showing off his new wand to anyone who would stand still long enough for him to pull it out. 

******

One week after the incident, the castle was mostly fixed. Wizarding construction experts had put the Astronomy Tower back where it was supposed to be, and fixed most of the other damage. The second floor bathroom was still missing its floor, because the school governors were still debating about what to do with the secret passageway that had been built underneath it down to the Chamber of Secrets. 

That day, the student body of Hogwarts gathered in the Great Hall for a ceremony that hadn't been performed for 30 years. The tables were gone, leaving enough space for everyone to stand on either side of a corridor right down the middle of the room.

"Regulus Black, James Potter, and Severus Snape," Professor McGonagall called out, reading off a roll of parchment. "Step forward."

The three boys walked down the space cleared for them, past all the students, while house elves beat time using small drums. The boys, standing side by side, stopped together in front of Professor Dumbledore on the other side of the hall.

"On February 14th, 1974, Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Snape distinguished themselves with a display of valor that goes above and beyond what is expected of any Hogwarts student, much less that of a 2nd or 3rd year. 

When confronted by a basilisk, one of the most feared creatures on Earth, they immediately recognized the danger it posed not only to themselves, but to the entirety of Hogwarts. Unable to escape or to warn the staff, the students worked together to slay the beast, ensuring the safety of their fellow students.

For this courageous act, the Hogwarts Board of Governors has directed that on this day, February 21st, 1974, Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Snape be awarded this Special Award for Services to the School. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore will now present the awards."

One by one, the three boys stepped forward and received a golden shield, engraved with their name and deed. A second copy of each shield would be hung on permanent display in the school's trophy room. They also were given a second commemoration: a basilisk fang, removed from the corpse of the beast they'd killed and mounted on a wooden plaque. 

The ceremony complete, the boys turned to face their fellow students, who broke out into thunderous applause. They heard Sirius wolf whistle, causing Regulus to roll his eyes. In the front of the group were Andromeda and Ted, and Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Conspicuously absent were Severus' parents. From what little information about them he'd gathered when he'd been in Slytherin, Regulus wasn't surprised. Lily was there though, applauding her friend, and Snape seemed happy enough with that. James, of course, was preening like a peacock trying to impress Lily.

"You think she'd go out with you if she knew that you killed the basilisk while transfigured into a chicken?" Regulus whispered in his ear. 

"You wouldn't," James hissed back. Regulus merely raised his eyebrows. James looked scandalized.

******

The rest of the school year passed by in a blur. Regulus was not impressed with all the attention that was on him now because of what they had done. Their picture appeared on the front of the Daily Prophet, posing with their awards, and Regulus was inundated with letters from people congratulating him or wishing him well. James and Severus were receiving the same treatment. James, of course, loved every minute of it, while Severus, used to being ignored, seemed baffled as to how to respond.

After a couple weeks, though, the furor died down and things went mostly back to normal. It had finally been decided to seal the Chamber of Secrets up for good and replace the floor in the bathroom. They'd removed the corpse of the basilisk and dissected it, preserving its remains for further study. Despite much clamor over the value of the creature, particularly its venom, Hogwarts refused to sell any of it to anyone. Technically Regulus, James, and Severus owned the snake under wizarding law, since they'd killed it, but they had all three agreed to donate it to Hogwarts. 

Regulus felt bad that Severus, who was much poorer than either Regulus or James, was missing out on an opportunity like this, so he'd quietly arranged for a large bag of gold to anonymously make its way into his trunk in the Slytherin dormitory (befriending the house elves was such a useful thing for Regulus to have done). It included a note that simply said "thank you for your service to Hogwarts, signed, a friend." Regulus saw Severus looking around the Great Hall the next morning and refused to make eye contact, absorbing himself in the weird conversation Remus and Peter were having about Muggle comic books.

The bathroom was restored, with one prominent addition: a collection of basilisk teeth mounted to a plaque displayed above the sinks. Moaning Myrtle, who everyone now knew had been killed by the basilisk in 1943, had become an unofficial tour guide to the curious who came to view the site of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Regulus noted with interest that she didn't seem to mind very much anymore about boys going into the girl's bathroom.

All in all, things were good. The Marauders continued to play pranks, and continued to not get caught thanks to Regulus' planning. Lily Evans seemed much more friendly to the group now, especially to Regulus. Severus too seemed to have warmed considerably to them, and James and Sirius, to their credit, were keeping the peace. The three of them could still be found arguing over various idiotic subjects, but they kept the insults from going too far and never pulled out their wands, so Regulus would take it.

Before he knew it, the school year was over, and it was time for Regulus and Sirius to return to Andromeda's home. Nymphadora was now crawling around, her hair an almost constant shade of bubblegum pink, and the boys spent a lot of the summer (when they weren't visiting at their friends' homes) playing with the precocious baby. 

Regulus was a little weirded out seeing his award hung above the mantlepiece in the living room. He pointed out to Andromeda that the space should be reserved for something related to her, Ted, or the baby. 

"Nonsense," she'd replied. "You're family, Regulus. This is your home now. It can stay there until you have a place of your own and you can hang it up there."

It still made Regulus uncomfortable, but Sirius wisely pointed out that arguing with Andromeda was a waste of time, and decided to let the matter go.

It was a wonderful summer, even better than the last. Soon enough, though, it was time to start preparing to return to school for his 3rd year. Regulus was looking forward not only to the start of term, but also to finding out what happened in the third of Harry's books that he'd receive once back at Hogwarts.

The peace was shattered a few days before September 1st, however. Rumors spread fast in the wizarding world, so almost everyone already knew what had happened before the Ministry made its official announcement, duly reported in the Daily Prophet:

Bellatrix Black had been captured.


	12. Chapter 12

Security was high at the Ministry of Magic when Regulus and Sirius arrived. They were the star witnesses in Bellatrix Black's trial before the Wizengamot on the charges of murder, attempted murder, and illegal use of an Unforgivable Curse. Despite himself, Regulus was nervous. 

He had been just as amazed as anyone when word came that Alastor Moody and a group of Aurors led a raid on a house in Cornwall that they'd received a tip about, and after a sharp fight, had captured Bellatrix Black. She'd been in the house alone, though it was obvious someone was bringing her supplies. The Aurors were still investigating that.

Interest in the case was widespread, and the spectator's gallery was full, including multiple reporters for the Daily Prophet. Regulus caught the eye of Professor Dumbledore, who was presiding over the trial as Chief Warlock. Dumbledore gave him a reassuring smile. 

Two Aurors led a manacled Bellatrix into the courtroom and seated her in the defendant's chair. Time on the run had not done her any favors. She looked rather less put together than Regulus was used to seeing her, but what alarmed him the most were her eyes. They looked...manic.

A balding man rapped a gavel and stood up. 

"Attention, this court proceeding will now come to order."

Once the courtroom quieted, he continued.

"This is the case of Ministry of Magic vs. Bellatrix Black, heard today before the Wizengamot, Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore presiding. Witness for the Prosecution will be Madam Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Miss Black has declined representation."

"Thank you, Mr. Fudge," Dumbledore said, adjusting his glasses and scrutinizing a piece of parchment in front of him. Regulus took a closer look at the scribe who had just spoken. He knew from the Harry Potter books that Cornelius Fudge was the Minister of Magic from at least 1991. It was hard to imagine THAT guy running Wizarding Britain.

"Bellatrix Black," Dumbledore said, gravely. "You stand before the Wizengamot accused of the crime of murder against Lord Orion Black and Mrs. Walburga Black, the crime of attempted murder against Master Sirius Black and Master Regulus Black, the crime of deliberately using the Cruciatus Curse against Master Sirius Black, as well as the lesser crimes of arson, assault, destruction of property, and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. How do you answer these charges?"

Bellatrix stuck her nose in the air. "I refuse to participate in the proceedings of this kangaroo court, old man," she sneered.

There were murmurings all over the courtroom. They stopped once Dumbledore began speaking again.

"Under our laws, the refusal to enter a plea is the same as entering a plea of not guilty. Please record it as such, Mr. Fudge," he said. "Madam Bones, you may begin."

Amelia Bones stepped up to the prosecutor's box opposite Dumbledore's position in the round courtroom.

"Thank you, Chief Warlock. Ladies and gentlemen of the Wizengamot, the story I am about to tell you is among the saddest in the history of Wizarding Britain. On December 18th, 1972, Sirius and Regulus Black returned home from Hogwarts School for the Christmas holidays. Less than an hour after they returned to their home, both their parents were dead, they were gravely injured, and their home had burned to the ground. I will show that the defendant, Bellatrix Black, deliberately committed these appalling crimes against her own family, for the purpose of furthering her own abusive and intolerant worldview. I call my first witness, Master Regulus Arcturus Black."

Sirius squeezed his shoulder as Regulus stood and made his way to the witness box, located at a right angle to both the prosecutor's box and the Chief Warlock's position. Directly across from him was an empty podium where the defense witness would have stood, had there been one.

"Raise your right hand please," Madam Bones said. "Do you swear that the testimony and memories you are about to share with the court are truthful and unaltered by any means, magical or mundane?"

"I do so swear," Regulus said. 

"Thank you Regulus," Madam Bones said, with a smile. "Now, let's talk about your family."

Regulus talked about his and Sirius' childhood in Grimmauld Place. How their parents were dedicated blood purists who were prejudiced against Muggles, Muggleborn wizards, and anyone who had any dealings with either of them. He talked about how insistent they were that Sirius be sorted into Slytherin, how angry they were when they found out he'd been sorted into Gryffindor instead. He talked about the abuse that they routinely dished out to both their children for the smallest infractions. 

He talked about the pressure put onto him by his parents to be sorted into Slytherin when it was his turn to go to Hogwarts, to not disappoint them the way Sirius had. How scared he had been when he was also sorted into Gryffindor of how his parents would react. How strange it was that they'd received no communication from their parents for months while at Hogwarts. 

As the grand finale, he shared his memory of that evening with the Pensieve, provided by Dumbledore and charmed to project the memory onto a screen visible to everyone in the courtroom. Regulus resolutely refused to watch it, he had to replay these events in his nightmares, he didn't need to see them now. Instead he watched the faces of people in the courtroom, and did his best not to cringe as the violent sounds of that evening filled his ears. There were audible gasps throughout the courtroom at some of the more dramatic moments, such as when Bellatrix hit Sirius with the Cruciatus Curse, or when Regulus dropped the chandelier on his parents, or when Bellatrix started the fire. Multiple people started crying when Regulus started begging Sirius to leave him after the banister collapsed. Regulus himself recognized the only reason he was able to remain so dispassionate about this was because of the strong Calming Draught he'd taken prior to coming to the Ministry. Andromeda had insisted both of them take one before coming, and now Regulus understood the wisdom of that choice.

"Thank you Regulus, you may step down," Madam Bones said.

"Good job, little brother," Sirius whispered to him as he sat back down.

"Your turn, then," Regulus whispered back.

Sirius was indeed next. His testimony mirrored that of Regulus, though he had the additional difficulty of describing to the courtroom what it felt like to be subjected to the Cruciatus Curse. Then he shared his memory of the event. This time, Regulus closed his eyes and tried to focus on the arm Andromeda wrapped around his shoulders instead of the sound of his brother screaming in pain.

Next was a Healer from St. Mungo's, who described Sirius and Regulus' injuries in excruciating detail, complete with diagrams. Now everyone would know why Regulus insisted on always wearing long sleeves. Maybe that was a good thing, nobody would ask about it anymore.

Next was the Ministry coroner, who performed the post mortum examination of their parents bodies. The coroner concluded that, while they had been knocked unconscious by the chandelier that Regulus had dropped on them, they were still alive when the fire began. Both of them died from smoke inhalation, and that, had there been no fire, Orion and Walburga Black would have made a full recovery.

Finally, a crime scene investigator from the Auror Office reported that the wand seized from Bellatrix Black matched the magical signature left behind at Grimmauld Place, decisively linking her to the spells performed there.

"Miss Black," Dumbledore said, when Madam Bones had finished. "Have you any witnesses to call, or evidence to present, or anything at all to say in your own defense?"

Bellatrix stared defiantly at Dumbledore but said nothing.

"Very well. In that case, we will proceed. Mr. Fudge, are all members of the Wizengamot present?"

"All members are present except for Lady Marchbanks, who is in St. Mungo's with a case of dragon pox, and Lord Black, who, as an alleged victim in this case, is not permitted to stand in judgment on it."

"Lord Black is, in any case, a minor, and does not yet sit in the Wizengamot anyway," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling.

"They say that like I'd WANT to do this boring job," Sirius grumbled.

"You will when its your time to, and you'll like it," Andromeda said, in a tone of voice that brooked no argument. Regulus just shrugged at Sirius, as if to say "You're the oldest, it's YOUR problem."

"Very well then, I now call on the Wizengamot to render their verdict. All those in favor of conviction, please raise your right hand now."

A sea of hands went up. There must be some kind of charm that indicated the specific number, because Fudge quickly wrote it down, much faster than he would have been able to count.

"All those in favor of acquittal, please raise your hand now."

No hands. It was hardly surprising, considering the mountain of evidence and the fact that Bellatrix provided no defense for her actions, not that she would have had much of a case anyway.

"Unanimous, then," Dumbledore said. "Bellatrix Black, you have been convicted of all charges laid against you. Our laws allow for only one sentence to be passed down for the seriousness of the crimes you have committed, and that is the sentence I hand down now: life imprisonment in Azkaban prison, with no possibility of parole. These proceedings are now closed."

Fudge hit the gavel again, and the crowd started talking loudly. Regulus watched as the Aurors brought Bellatrix to her feet and prepared to move her out of the room.

"I have a better idea Dumbledore!" Bellatrix suddenly called out, and the courtroom was quiet again as everyone turned to look at her. She raised her arms and the manacles snapped open, dropping to the ground. The crowd gasped. 

"Restrain her!" Alastor Moody called out from the rail. The two Aurors made to grab her, then the entire room was suddenly obscured with a blast of white smoke. It was pandemonium in the courtroom as the spectators panicked and the Aurors shouted orders. Then someone grabbed Regulus by the throat and slammed him roughly to the ground.

"You're coming with me, cousin Reggie," Bellatrix hissed in his ear.

******

Regulus was being dragged out of the courtroom, Bellatrix had an arm around his throat and a wand jabbed roughly into his side. Regulus cursed his skinny, weak body, Sirius wouldn't have been manhandled like this.

"This is all YOUR fault, Regulus," Bellatrix hissed at him as they went. "YOU killed your parents, you and your simple headed brother, the moment you betrayed us and everything we stand for!"

"Killing me isn't going to accomplish anything, Bella," Regulus choked out. "They're not going to let you go."

"On the contrary, cousin, you are my ticket out of here."

"Auror office! Drop your wand!"

Bellatrix whirled them around to face the Aurors in the hallway. "Stand aside or I kill the boy! Not one step closer, you hear me?"

The Aurors backed up but still had their wands trained on her. Bellatrix kept moving forward, into a stairwell. Regulus knew the only way out was the Atrium, and that was where they were going.

"Reggie!" Sirius was behind the Aurors now. "Let him go you snake!"

"You'd better learn some manners real quick, Sirius, or you'll be scraping what's left of your brother off the goddamn ceiling!" Bellatrix shouted. Regulus' stomach lurched as he realized that Bellatrix had probably succumbed to the infamous Black family madness. In this manic state, she could do anything.

"I'm alright, Siri," Regulus said calmly. "Just stay back, please."

He locked eyes with his brother, trying to calm him down, which was really nuts because it should have been the other way round.

Bellatrix used wandless magic to blow open the doors to the Atrium, dragging Regulus all the way. Now it was chaos, as they were confronted by a huge crowd of spectators, and a horde of Aurors alternately trying to keep them back or keep Bellatrix contained. 

"Let him go, sister!" Andromeda shouted, pointing her wand at them.

"You are no sister of mine, Andromeda Tonks!" Bellatrix spat out, "You gave up that right when you married that filth! You're lucky its your ward in my hands and not that pathetic excuse for a husband, there wouldn't be enough of a body to bury!"

"Let the boy go, Bellatrix," growled Moody, arriving on the scene. "You've got no way out of here."

"I also have nothing to lose, do I?" Bellatrix cackled. "Now here's what's going to happen. You're going to unlock the Floo gates, and I'm going to go through one of them, and take Reggie here with me. And if any of you try to follow, or stop me, I promise you that I'll leave quite the mess for you to clear up!"

She continued to back them up into the Atrium, pursued by a semicircle of Aurors and onlookers. When they got close enough to one of the Floo gates, she stopped.

"Open it! Or shall I slice off one of his ears? Maybe his screams will convince you I'm serious?"

Moody had a pained expression on his face, and he waved his wand. "It's open."

Bellatrix smiled, resuming dragging Regulus towards the gate. "Oh cousin, you and I are going to have a lot of fun! I've read about some spells I've just been dying to try out!"

Regulus suddenly knew that if they made it through the fireplace, no one would ever see him alive again. So he reacted. With his left arm, he elbowed Bellatrix hard in the ribs. With his left foot, he stomped down on hers, and with his right hand, he grabbed for the wand, twisting it away from him and towards the ceiling. A jet of silver light burst out and smashed into the ceiling, sending glass shards flying everywhere. 

Bellatrix and Regulus stood there for a few seconds, though it seemed like much longer, struggling over the wand, before a blast of hot air blew the two of them apart. Bellatrix was propelled into the fireplace, while Regulus slid across the Atrium floor on his belly, stopping thirty feet away. He watched as there was a flash of green flame in the fireplace Bellatrix ended up in, and then she was gone.

Regulus stared at the floor and tried to process what had just happened. He looked up and saw Moody shouting orders for pursuing Bellatrix. Then....

"Let me through! Reggie!" 

Sirius appeared, and yanked Regulus to his feet and into a hug. 

"Are you alright?"

"I think so," Regulus replied.

"Bloody hell, why does this shit keep happening to us, Reggie?"

"I wish I knew, Siri. I wish I knew."


	13. Chapter 13

Regulus sat on his bed at Andromeda's house, dressed in his Hogwarts uniform, reading a book he'd bought in a Muggle shop about helicopters. He'd been fascinated by Muggle aviation ever since his liberation from Grimmauld Place, but it was the helicopter that most closely resembled a broomstick, with its ability to rise into the air straight off the ground and pivot around, while also moving around at speed. He'd love to try and fly one someday.

He was reading to take his mind off the depressing events of the day. It was September 1st, and he should have been on the Hogwarts Express right now. But after the fiasco at the Ministry yesterday, it was decided by the new head of the Auror office, Alastor Moody (his predecessor having been sacked after Bellatrix's escape), that it would be safer if Regulus was brought to Hogwarts directly by Aurors instead of on the train. Aurors were also going to guard the school to prevent any incursions by Bellatrix, though Regulus privately thought that was little better than window dressing. What security could Aurors provide him that Transfiguration Master Minerva McGonagall, former dueling champion Filius Flitwick, and greatest wizard of the age Albus Dumbledore could not? 

Sirius came into the room and flopped down on Regulus' bed.

"You could have gone on the train, you know," Regulus commented. "It isn't like our cousin marked YOU for death."

"I think she would if she thought she'd get away with it," Sirius said. "Besides, I already said I'd rather stay here with you."

"Really? But your friends...."

"OUR friends," Sirius interrupted, putting emphasis on the first word, "will see us at the feast tonight. I think they can survive without our company for one train ride."

Even after living in this world for over two years, Regulus still had trouble envisioning this version of Sirius, who would choose his brother over his friends in a heartbeat. In the previous version, it had been the other way round. One of his darkest fears was that he was going to eventually do or say something to bring back that other version of Sirius, and Regulus didn't think he could handle that.

"What's on your mind? You've got that 'worrying Reggie' face on."

"I do NOT have a 'worrying Reggie' face!" Regulus protested. 

"Uh uh, can't hide anything from me. What is it?"

"I don't know, I guess I was hoping this would be a quiet year at Hogwarts, after the fire in first year and the basilisk in 2nd. Now I'm going to have Aurors following me wherever I go, looking out for our homicidal cousin."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

"I just wish Dumbledore hadn't blasted us apart yesterday. I felt like I was a few seconds away from getting the wand away from her and we could have ended this."

"Or you were a few seconds away from Bellatrix killing you," Sirius admonished him. "Dumbledore decided to protect you first, that was more important than catching Bellatrix. And in this, I agree with him."

"But what if she kills more people now?"

"Don't care, you're more important."

"....Wow, Siri."

But the two boys were laughing.

******

Sirius and Regulus were dropped off at the Hogwarts gates just as the horseless carriages arrived.

"Ah, there's the Black boys!" James said, hopping out of the carriage and wrapping an arm around each of them. "And how was your summer, sirs?"

"Oh, you know, the usual, played some Quidditch, did homework, my cousin tried to murder me. Bit boring really."

"Dad was at the trial, he told me what happened before the paper came out," James said, suddenly serious. "I'm glad you're alright, mate."

"Don't start him on that, he's being all noble and self sacrificing," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "I don't know why anybody thought he'd be anything but a Gryffindor. He's worse than you, Jamie."

"I resent that! I'll have you know I was thinking very selfish thoughts on the train. Between you two not being there, and Remus being absent, Peter and I were bored out of our minds! We ran out of stuff to talk about and just kinda stared awkwardly out the window the rest of the way."

"Hey! It's not my fault that you and Sirius feed off each other and the rest of us can hardly get a word in edgewise!" Peter protested.

"Remy wasn't there? Is he sick again?"

"Must be. It's like every month with him, poor bloke."

Regulus resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he glanced over the top of the Whomping Willow to the full moon shining brightly in the sky above them. He couldn't believe these idiots were getting ready to start Fourth year and they STILL hadn't figured out Remus' secret. Regulus himself had figured it out before the end of his first year, the first time around. Still, he figured it was only a matter of time. Regulus hoped they'd try the Animagus thing again this time around, he really wanted to try that for himself.

"Reggie? Are you listening?"

"Huh?" Regulus said, coming back to reality to find the other three boys staring at him.

"I said, who are the two blokes following us?"

Regulus looked behind him and spotted the Aurors. This time, he DID roll his eyes. "My new security detail."

"Huh, well that's a bit grim, isn't it?" James said, making a face. "Are they going to follow you into your dormitory?"

"They better not, or I'm going to be having a conversation with the headmaster," Regulus said darkly.

******

"....and so, following his unfortunate accident over the summer, Professor Kettleburn decided it would be safer to assume the mantle of Care of Magical Creatures teacher this year. The post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will instead be filled by one of Hogwarts' most distinguished alumni, Patricia Rakepick!"

As they clapped for the new teacher, James said "Another new one? We've had a different Defense teacher every year since we've started. You know, I think the job's jinxed or something."

That wasn't the first time Regulus had heard that description, it also featured in Harry Potter's books. Which reminded him, he needed to start reading the new book he'd gotten tonight after everyone else was asleep.

"I've heard of her," Sirius said. "She's one of the world's best Curse Breakers."

"How do you know that?" James asked. Sirius shrugged.

"Chocolate frog card. Also because Jacob won't shut up about her." He poked the ribs of the boy sitting next to him. The normally quiet boy made a face.

"For the last time, Sirius, I do NOT have a crush on her! I just admire her work, that's all!"

"Right, right, Jacob, that's why you're blushing, because of how much you admire her WORK."

"Leave off him, Siri," Regulus said, smiling. "And go get James. He's about to make an ass of himself in front of Lily again."

Sirius looked over, and the smile dropped off his face.

"Oh bother," he said, standing up. "James! Mate! We talked about this!"

******

Regulus hadn't gotten any sleep that night. But he couldn't have stopped reading that book if he'd wanted to. The third Harry Potter book, entitled the Prisoner of Azkaban, had shaken him to his core. 

His brother and his friends had finally appeared in Harry's story, and the explanation behind their absence was horrifying. Sirius, his brother, was in Azkaban, accused of betraying James and Lily to Voldemort and setting up their deaths at his hands, along with the attempted murder of Harry. He was further accused of murdering Peter Pettigrew and a dozen Muggles in a duel in broad daylight.

Right away Regulus suspected fuckery was afoot. In the previous version of his life, he knew his brother could be a right bastard at times, he'd experienced that firsthand. But he worshipped the ground James Potter walked on, there was no way in hell that Sirius would ever betray him. There was also no way that Sirius, after fighting tooth and nail to get away from his Voldemort loving family, would ever willingly agree to bend his knee in service to him, he'd die first. 

The story only got worse. Sirius had escaped from Azkaban, which had never happened before in its history, and was apparently out to murder Harry Potter, sending the Ministry into a tizzy. Remus appeared too, as that year's Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Reading between the lines, Regulus guessed the intervening years had been very hard on Remus, with all his friends being either dead or in jail, and not being able to hold down a job due to his affliction. 

Hogwarts was being guarded by dementors, God's worst creation, and that was perhaps the most unbelievable part of the entire story, how Dumbledore had ever been persuaded to allow THAT to happen. Not to mention how the Ministry thought it was a good idea in the first place. This Cornelius Fudge really was an idiot. 

Despite the guards, Sirius made his way into the castle multiple times, sending Hogwarts into a tizzy. Tizzies everywhere. It all built to the big reveal: that Sirius had been framed. Peter Pettigrew, it seemed, wasn't dead, but hiding out in his Animagus form, living life with the Weasley family as the rat Scabbers. Pettigrew had turned spy for Voldemort, Pettigrew had betrayed the Potters, and Pettigrew had faked his own death and sent Sirius to prison, murdering innocent Muggles in the process. 

How was Regulus ever going to look at Peter the same again? He knew that this version of Peter hadn't done any of those things. This version of Peter was his friend, and because of that, he might never do anything he did the first time around. But the fact remained that he was capable of it. THAT obviously bore watching.

Pettigrew ended up escaping after Remus turned into a werewolf, really unfortunate timing there, forcing Harry to use a Time Turner his friend Hermione had apparently been using all year to go to every single class the school offered, which Regulus wasn't even going to comment on, to go back in time and save Sirius by busting him out using a stolen hippogriff. 

On the one hand, Regulus could totally see Sirius getting himself into this kind of bullshit, he'd been doing it all his life. On the other, what the FUCK had he just read? Why was Harry Potter's life so difficult? And why, for the love of all that's holy, is Regulus Black BECOMING this kid?


	14. Chapter 14

James Potter had been named Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. As a fourth year, he was one of the youngest team captains in school history. But he didn't feel particularly honored by it.

"McGonagall picked me because nobody else would do it, except you," James confided to Regulus one day soon after they'd arrived back at Hogwarts. "And you're even younger than I am."

"Who said I'D do it?" Regulus retorted, sticking his tongue out at him.

Admittedly, their position wasn't a lot better than last year. After that improbable victory against Ravenclaw, they'd promptly been flattened by Slytherin and lost to Hufflepuff as well. And now, the Gryffindor team consisted of exactly two players: James, and Regulus. In other words, their first team meeting wasn't going well.

"What the bloody hell are we even doing, Reggie?" James said in exasperation. "We might as well not even play this year."

"Don't give up so quick, Captain," Regulus said, rolling his eyes. "We just need some players. I KNOW we've got good players somewhere in Gryffindor, they're just not stepping up and volunteering to play."

"Like who?"

"Like Siri, for one."

"What?! Sirius doesn't play Quidditch!" James yelled incredulously.

"Oh yes he does. He just doesn't play around YOU because he doesn't think he's any good and doesn't want to embarrass himself. But I'm his brother, I know what he did when we were kids."

"Well shit. What else don't I know about my best friend?"

"He really likes the Bee Gees?" Regulus said with a shrug.

"What in the FUCK is a Bee Gee?"

"You'll have to ask Siri," Regulus said with a chuckle.

"Okay, anyway, Reggie, what are we going to do, for real here?"

It was a fair question. Suddenly it hit him.

"Team spirit," Regulus murmured.

"Sorry?"

"Team spirit, James. Our house doesn't have any team spirit."

"Reggie! We don't even have a team to be spirited about!"

"I'm getting to that, you knob. Nobody is bothering to come out for the team because they're not invested in the team. Nobody comes to the matches, they don't cheer for us, there's no excitement about the team's games, except from Professor McGonagall."

"Okay but how do we get the House to be excited about our team if nobody shows up to BE on the team? It's kind of a vicious circle, isn't it?"

Regulus put his hands behind his head. "That's the brilliant part. We can make them."

James raised his eyebrows. "Do explain."

"We go to McGonagall, you and me, and we explain that in order to foster team spirit, we need to make it mandatory for the entirety of Gryffindor House to come out on Saturday and try out for the Quidditch Team."

"Including the first years?"

"Everyone. If Nearly Headless Nick could carry a Quaffle, I'd make him show up too."

James' eyebrows had now disappeared into his wild bangs. "She is NEVER going to go for that."

"You're her favorite student, and I'm her best student. Plus, the old girl is CRAZY about Quidditch. We can sell that."

"You sure you didn't hit your head down in the Chamber of Secrets? You're talking crazy right now."

"Should have thought of that before you made me a Marauder," Regulus said with a smirk.

"This isn't a prank, though, Reggie!"

"It's not? Look me in the eyes and tell me Peter doing laps around the Quidditch field on a broomstick won't be the most hysterical thing you've seen all year."

James stared at him for a second, mouth open.

"Oh my GOD, you're right! Between him, and the giggling girls, and the first years crashing into each other, it'll be a better spectacle than any prank we've ever done! They'll be talking about it for years!"

"Maybe don't phrase it that way, James, when you talk to McGonagall," Regulus said, "She might take your captain's badge away."

"Oh come on, who's she gonna give it to? YOU?"

"Hey!"

******

It had turned out to be just as legendary as James had predicted. Somehow, word had gotten around the entire school, and most everyone, not just Gryffindors, turned out to watch the fireworks. Most of the Slytherins stayed away, judging such displays to be unseemly, but the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs certainly had a good time. So did Professor Dumbledore, who sat serenely in the staff box and watched with a twinkle in his eye that Regulus swore he saw escalate to laughter a few times. Professor McGonagall, on the other hand, looked like she regretted ever pursuing a career in teaching. And between Madam Hooch and Madam Pomfrey, Regulus wasn't sure which of them was more likely to murder James for his audacity.

By the end of it, however, they had a team. And not a bad one either, if they stuck with it and practiced. Sirius had sat on his broom, Beater's bat in hand, refusing to participate, until James goaded and taunted him so much, he'd roared with rage and smacked a Bludger directly into James' solar plexus. James had then crashed into the goal post and almost got stuck in the hoop before he corrected himself.

"Good," James said hoarsely, holding a weak thumbs up, "Really good mate, just like Reggie said."

Sirius sent his brother a death glare, and Regulus refused to feel guilty, though he did reposition himself on the other side of the pitch, just in case Sirius found another Bludger to hit.

"I can't believe that worked!" James said at dinner that night, where he was the hero, surrounded by excited Gryffindors who were worked up about Quidditch for the first time since Regulus had come to Hogwarts.

"It was a brilliant idea, James," Lily said to him. "Even if I didn't like having to sit my ass on a broom for two hours."

James blushed a deep scarlet, then recovered. "Sorry mates, I can't take the credit here. This was all Reggie's idea."

"Of course it was," Sirius said with a smirk. "My little brother HAS always been the devious one."

"Hey, don't talk to your Vice Captain like that!" James protested.

"Vice Captain?" Regulus said, raising an eyebrow.

James held out a patch across the table, to be attached to Regulus' Quidditch robes.

"Take it Reggie, you earned it."

"Will McGonagall approve?"

"Who do you think gave me the patch?"

"Oh, hell," Regulus said, snatching it, while the Gryffindor table cheered.

******

Regulus decided he liked Professor Rakepick. She was a good teacher, and seemed to actually care about her students. For instance, when she had them confront a boggart for the first time, she had everyone wait out in the hallway and called them in one at a time, so that students wouldn't have to confront their worst fear in front of their classmates. 

Regulus should have guessed in advance what HIS boggart would look like. Bellatrix Black strode out of the wardrobe, wand in hand. But she didn't cast a curse on him, her words were weapon enough.

"Always the little brat, hanging on to your brother's legs. You'll never amount to anything, and you can't stop me from killing everyone you love!"

"Riddikulous!" Regulus finally cast, and Bellatrix's wand went limp in her hand like a wet noodle, and she shrieked in a very un-Bellatrix like way. But Regulus couldn't find it in himself to laugh, his hands were shaking and he'd gone pale. Professor Rakepick had dismissed him and he'd walked quickly out of the room, past his classmates, ignoring their shouted questions, and went straight back to the dormitory and buried his head under the covers of his bed.

The boggart had been right about what he was afraid of. Back in the Ministry, when Bellatrix had ahold of him, he hadn't felt afraid, he'd felt helpless. Being manhandled around like a sack of potatoes while being completely unable to do anything about it. He wasn't worried about himself, necessarily, but what if Bellatrix went after Sirius, or James? Or anyone else? Realistically, he knew as a 13 year old student (biologically, anyway) that shouldn't be his problem to worry about, but it WAS. Bellatrix was coming after him, and she'd hurt whoever got in her way, and that would be on Regulus if he couldn't stop it. Besides, he'd been sent back in time by the Storyteller to protect people, right? 

He sat up in bed. He needed to do better. He needed to be prepared. He was going to become more proficient at wandless magic, and he was going to research and practice everything there was to know about dueling. Being raised in a terribly dark family, being groomed to become a Death Eater, he already knew more about that than he should, but he needed to know more. When Bellatrix came for him, he'd be ready.

******

He started spending more time in the library, reading obscure tomes on advanced magic. He was particularly fascinated by the concept of weather magic, being able to redirect lightning bolts, start small earthquakes, blasts of wind, all leading up to the dreaded Fiendfyre Curse, which only a true master of the elements would dare attempt to cast, as command of fire itself (not merely starting it, as the Incendio spell does, but controlling its very nature) was notoriously hard to do, you could end up killing yourself if you weren't prepared. Some texts considered it very dark magic, but Regulus didn't think so, fire was neither good nor bad, it was what you did with it that defined its intent. And he said that as someone who had been badly burned by it.

He spent evenings practicing what he learned in deserted classrooms far from prying eyes. He stole James' Invisibility Cloak when he could get away with it, other times casting a Disillusionment Charm that even Peeves couldn't see through (he'd mastered spells of concealment long ago, it was a survival mechanism growing up as he had.)

He cast the new spells he taught himself, to varying effect. To his frustration, he hadn't yet gotten the hang of wandless magic, though he was getting more proficient at nonverbal spells, which were a great help in a duel. 

******

It was after one of these after hours practice sessions that he was walking back to Gryffindor Tower when he suddenly found himself surrounded by half a dozen Slytherins. Internally, he swore as he realized he had forgotten to Disillusion himself before leaving the classroom.

"Well well, fancy meeting you here, Mini Black," Rosier drawled, earning chuckles from his cronies. Regulus had never liked the smarmy prick even when he was in Slytherin. 

"Get out of my way, Rosier. Take your dance recital somewhere else."

"Oh ho! Sirius Black's snot nosed little brother has quite the mouth on him. Not enough that you have to thumb your nose up at the house you belong in, you're gonna give me attitude as well?"

"Sounds like he needs to be taught a lesson, Rosier," Mulciber said next to him.

"Yeah, he does," chimed in Avery. Regulus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He thought he was done with this schoolyard bully shit two years ago.

"With your marks, Rosier, I don't think you ought to be giving anyone lessons, you should save them for yourself," Regulus said, now irritated at himself and these pig headed fools who thought bullying younger students was a fun extracurricular activity.

Rosier scowled. "Careful Black, you don't want to say something you'll end up regretting."

"Careful Rosier, you don't want to start something that you can't finish," Regulus retorted, snapping his wand into his hand and raising it before any of them could react.

"Maybe your friends can take me down, maybe not, Evan. But I know for sure I'll get you with the first shot. And it'll be a nasty one, you should SEE some of the curses the Black family has handed down over the years."

"You're a disgrace to that family! You and your brother both!" Rosier snarled.

"And what does that make you, Rosier? Picking on first years like some kind of Muggle schoolyard bully, trying to use magic you have no comprehension of to impress your friends? I killed a basilisk, you tit, you think I'm scared of you and your little gang here?"

"Come on Evan, let us shut this little punk up!" Mulciber said. 

"Yeah, go ahead, Evan, sic your dogs on me, see how that works out for you," Regulus said with a smirk. And there it was, in Rosier's eyes, the flicker of uncertainty, of fear. 

"He's not worth it, boys," Rosier said. "Let's go."

The group sidled away, towards the dungeons. Regulus kept his wand pointed at them as they retreated. Rosier turned around halfway down the hallway.

"You should be afraid of us, you know, Black. The new order is coming, and you're on the wrong side of it."

"Perhaps. But remember this, Rosier: I may be a Gryffindor, but I come from a long line of Slytherins. I know how you lot think. Just try and get the drop on me, or any of my friends, and you'll regret it."

Rosier scowled at him and disappeared around the corner.

"Bitch," Regulus snorted under his breath.

"Language, Mr. Black."

Startled, Regulus whirled around.

"Professor Rakepick?!" he said, calming down. "I didn't see you there."

"Curfew is in five minutes, Mr. Black, you should be heading back to Gryffindor Tower," she said. 

"Yes Professor," he said, and started down the hallway himself. Then he stopped and turned around. 

"Professor, if you don't mind me asking, how DID you get behind me like that? I would have heard you coming, and there was no place for you to hide out of sight."

Professor Rakepick smiled. "You are a clever one, Regulus. Would you like to see how I did it?" 

He nodded, and with a whoosh, the woman was gone, replaced by an owl with reddish brown feathers that matched Rakepick's hair exactly. The owl soared around Regulus' head, who followed its movement, wide eyed. 

"You're an Animagus," he said in wonder, after she'd landed and transformed back. "I've never seen one besides Professor McGonagall."

"She's the one that taught me how when I was in school," Rakepick said. 

"I've always wanted to do that," Regulus said wistfully. It was true, from the moment he'd found out that Sirius and his friends were transforming into animals every full moon, he'd wanted to try it himself, partly to compete with his brother (anything you can do, so on) and also because it just seemed really cool.

"Would you like me to teach you?" Rakepick asked.

"Would you?!" Regulus said excitedly, "I mean, is that even allowed?"

"Of course it's allowed! This is a place of learning, after all, and I am your teacher. You would be under my guidance, just as I was under Professor McGonagall's and she in turn was under Professor Dumbledore's. You're a bright enough student, I'm sure you could manage it by the end of the year."

"In that case, yes, Professor, I would love to learn how," Regulus said breathlessly. Rakepick smiled at him.

"All right then. The night of the next full moon, come visit me in my office, and we shall begin."

And with that, she transformed again, and glided down the hallway on silent wings until she was out of sight.

"Wow," Regulus said. He walked back to the common room with a spring in his step, deciding not to tell anyone about this until he'd managed it, wanting to surprise his brother, who, at this point, WASN'T an Animagus. 

Also, he wanted to know what his Animagus form was before telling anyone. Imagine if he turned into a pot bellied pig or something. Sirius would laugh himself sick, the prat.


	15. Chapter 15

Regulus was again in the library, actually doing schoolwork this time, for his Muggle Studies class (he imagined what his mother would say if he knew that Regulus volunteered to take Muggle Studies, something Sirius hadn't been allowed to do, and laughed to himself every single class), when the clunk of a body dropping into a chair across from him interrupted his reading.

"Can I talk to you?" Sirius asked.

"Do I have a choice?" Regulus said dryly, but he set his book down nevertheless. He might grumble about it, but he'd always make time for his brother.

"It's about Remus," Sirius said, awkwardly.

Regulus raised an eyebrow. "What about Remus?" Is this what he thought it was?

"Do you think there's something...strange about his illness?"

"Strange?"

"Yeah, strange. Like how he won't tell us exactly what's wrong with him, or how he ends up in the hospital wing every month like clockwork."

"You're obviously thinking something, Siri. Go on."

"Well, I started wondering about it at the end of last year, so I started keeping track when we came back this year. The last three months, each time Remus has been ill, it's coincided with the full moon."

Regulus said nothing, waiting for Sirius to continue.

"I think...I think Remus is a werewolf, Reggie."

Regulus searched his brother's eyes, searching for any sign that Sirius was playing a prank on him. He found none, then sighed.

"Finally figured that out, did you?"

"I...what?"

Regulus rolled his eyes. "I figured that out before my first year was over, Sirius. I've been wondering if you lot were ever gonna figure it out."

Sirius blinked at him. "If you knew, why didn't you say anything?"

"Because that's his private business, Sirius. I don't gossip about my friends."

"But I mean, aren't you worried about it? Aren't you scared?"

"Of what? He's been here what, three and a half years now? Have you heard ANY stories about a werewolf running wild around the school? Any students being attacked? Obviously they're doing something to contain him when he transforms so he can't hurt anyone, and the rest of the time, he's just harmless, goofy Remus."

Sirius still looked skeptical. Regulus clicked his tongue.

"Look Sirius, your reaction is understandable, its been ingrained in most of us since birth that werewolves are dark creatures, mindless monsters. But this is Remus, Sirius. Our friend. Obviously he was bitten before he came to Hogwarts, since he's been 'ill' since he got here. That creep Fenrir Greyback likes infecting kids, trying to force them to join his group when they're turned away by the rest of wizarding society. Are you really going to turn Remus away over this, for something he can't control?"

"I...no, I guess not. Why are you so smart, Reggie?"

"Someone has to be, we'd all be dead otherwise," Regulus said, flipping his long hair back over his shoulder.

"What should we do?"

Regulus shrugged. "I'm not going to do anything, like I said, it isn't my business. If it bothers you that much, you should talk to him. Gently, so you don't scare him, let him know that you're there for him and if he wants to talk, you'll listen. But most importantly, that you're going to keep his secret."

"I can't even tell James?" Sirius pouted.

"For God's sake, Siri, this isn't a new puppy, it's something that can ruin Remus' life if it gets out. The board of governors could force Dumbledore to kick him out if he's found out. Look how you reacted, and you know him well! Imagine how the parents of the kids in Slytherin would react? Imagine how OUR parents would have reacted?"

Sirius made a face. "You're right. Ugh, what a mess."

"Don't be so dramatic, Sirius," Regulus said, going back to his book, which Sirius promptly smacked out of his hand out of pure brotherly spite.

******

Regulus started visiting Professor Rakepick in her office on the first night of the full moon, and also on weekends where Hogsmeade visits were happening, since he wasn't permitted to go for his own safety, for his Animagus instruction. He'd already studied the theory of it in books, but the professor's firsthand knowledge was indispensable. She knew the process, which was immensely complicated. 

"We cannot start the process until after you return to school after the Christmas holidays," she told him. Though he was impatient to begin, he understood the need to wait: the thing with the mandrake leaf needed to be handled delicately, otherwise they'd have to start over. 

Regulus honestly hadn't expected Remus to seek him out, but sure enough, the older boy found him while he was in the library, reading one of the texts Rakepick had assigned him about Animagi. 

"Art of the Animal Transformation?" Remus read the title of the book Regulus was reading as he sat down. "Transfiguration assignment?"

"Independent study," Regulus said airily, setting the book down. "I've always found the concept fascinating."

"Ah," Remus said. He seemed nervous.

"What's up, Remy?"

"Sirius told me that you know....about me."

Regulus raised an eyebrow. "Of course he did. Sorry."

"No, no, don't apologize! Just...thanks, you know? For not making a big deal out of it."

Regulus gave him a small smile. "You're welcome."

"Honestly, I feel a lot better about it now. Keeping a secret like this, from everyone, it's not good for you, you know? I was constantly worried someone would find out, and my whole life would fall apart."

"Are you going to tell James and Peter?"

"Suppose I have to, before Sirius lets it slip accidently."

"If you really don't want to, I can talk to Siri, Oblivate him if I have to."

Remus laughed. "No, I want to. It's just, its not every day you have to tell your best mates 'Hey guys, I'm a werewolf, isn't that cool?'"

"Can't be any worse than telling people you're gay," Regulus said before realizing what he was saying. Internally he cringed.

Remus tilted his head. "I suppose not. Wait...Regulus, are you....?"

Regulus sighed. "I'm pretty sure I'm bisexual actually. Not that it's come up much, between house fires, basilisks, murderous cousins, and the bloody Quidditch team. Plus I'm only 13."

"Makes sense. Well, if you ever wanna talk about that, I'll listen."

"Thanks Remy. And back at you. Not about that, I mean, the other thing."

"Yeah I got it. Thank you."

Later that night, Regulus was in the bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror. 

"I don't understand you, Regulus Black. You can face down death but can't have a bloody conversation about feelings without becoming an idiot!"

"If you keep talking to yourself, people will think you're mad," Moaning Myrtle said from behind him, startling him. 

"And if you keep eavesdropping, you'll end up in ghost hell," Regulus said irritably, walking out of the bathroom.

"That's not a real thing! Is it? Where are you going?! Tell me!"

******  
It had been a quiet Christmas at the Tonks home. Christmas didn't feel very fun to Regulus ever since the fire, he kept scratching at his arm self consciously, as though the scars hidden under his shirt sleeve were scabs that he could pick off and remove. The weirdest part to him as that he was starting to grow body hair everywhere else on his body, but because the hair follicles on his left arm had been destroyed, nothing had appeared there, and the Healer explained that it never would.

Sometimes Regulus wondered if any boys or girls would ever find him attractive once they saw what his arm looked like (despite what he'd told Remus, he knew for a fact he was bisexual, since he'd been 17 before and had felt those hormonal urges, even if he didn't particularly feel them now). He was a carbon copy version of his brother, a shorter, scarred up version of him. Maybe he should ask Alastor Moody how he fared in the dating department. The Head Auror had a wooden leg and was missing half his nose, if THAT guy could still pull, maybe there was hope for Regulus yet.

He was pulled abruptly from his self absorbed thoughts when a loud blast could be heard coming from the front of the house. Grabbing his wand, he rushed out of the bathroom, dressed only in a pair of pajama bottoms.

The front door had been blasted off its hinges and lay splintered into pieces on the floor. The cold and snow from outside blew down the hallway, making Regulus aware of his bare chest. But there was no time to worry about that now, what he heard next from the living room chilled him worse than any wind could:

"Lovely home you have here, 'Dromeda! Though I may have dusted it up a bit when I came in. And is this my niece?"

Bellatrix.


	16. Chapter 16

Regulus crept down the hallway towards the living room entrance closest to him, and continued to listen.

"What are you doing here, Bellatrix?" Andromeda asked, sounding pretty calm under the circumstances.

"It's Christmas, dear sister! Family should be together during the holidays, we have SO much to talk about!" Bellatrix sounded deranged. Was she this unstable the first time around? Or had something Regulus done driven her mad? 

He silently slipped around the corner into the doorway of the living room. Bellatrix had her back to him, she was facing off against Andromeda, who was shielding Nymphadora in her playpen. If Andromeda saw Regulus, she didn't give any sign of it.

"At the Ministry, back in August, you said I wasn't your sister anymore. Now I want you to leave my home."

Bellatrix cackled. 

"You still remember everything your dear old sister says to you, even all these years later. How sweet! But as adorable as this little reunion is, I'm not here to see you. Where is sweet little Regulus? Can he come out and play?"

"You'll rot in hell before I allow you to lay a hand on him," Andromeda snarled. 

"Bold words, Andromeda, for someone not holding a wand," Bellatrix said, brandishing her own. "I'll make this simple: you tell me where he is, or I will make sure your Mudblood husband comes home from work tonight to find the walls painted with your little brat's blood!"

Andromeda said nothing.

"I'll ask again. Where. is. he?"

"Right here, Bella!" Regulus said, and as she whirled around, he fired a curse at her that she blocked. She always did have lightning quick reflexes. Perhaps he shouldn't have shouted first, like he was a cheesy action film hero. Too late now.

"Reggie! So lovely to see you! Oh, but you're not dressed for company!" Bellatrix said, leering at him. Her smile widened as she saw his left arm. "Oooh, that looks like it hurt, was that my handiwork?"

"It's nothing compared to what you're gonna look like when I'm through with you," Regulus snarled. 

"Big talk now, but that's not what you sounded like in the Ministry, was it? The weak little boy, whimpering when I jabbed my wand in your neck. Oh, how I wish it had been a knife!"

"You could have fled the country, Bella, what is the point of this little visit?"

For the first time, Bellatrix dropped her smile. 

"You ruined my life, you little wretch! You think I enjoy living on the run, wallowing in my own filth like one of those Muggles that goes out into the woods and hunts deer with a pointy stick? My own family won't even speak to me, they accuse me of killing Lord and Lady Black! Which is YOUR fault, you blood traitor!"

"They were still alive when you set the house on fire, Bellatrix," Regulus said. "It was YOUR fault they died. You left them there because you were humiliated you'd been bested by a first year student."

Bellatrix's face twisted in rage. 

"I think I'll give you a burn to match on your other arm, Reggie. But first, I'm going to roast that little half blood my sister produced until her eyes pop out of her head like overripe berries! Won't that be fun, 'Dro...."

She turned to look back at Andromeda, only to be met with an empty room. As soon as Bellatrix had turned her back on her sister, she had grabbed Nymphadora and absconded with her, casting Regulus an apologetic look on the way out. She should be well away by now, hopefully bringing back help.

"Undone by your own monologuing, cousin," Regulus said, smirking. "How very cliché."

Bellatrix exploded and started firing spells. Regulus found it was easier to block them than he expected, probably because she wasn't thinking clearly, casting wildly in a blind rage. He started shooting back, and soon the living room hummed with electricity as the magic crackled in the air from their duel.

"You're no bigger than you were that night two years ago!" Bellatrix roared at him. "Do you really think you can best me?"

"Fortunately I've learned a few new tricks since then," Regulus replied. "Agusto!"

A sideways vortex of wind caught Bellatrix right in the chest and propelled her backwards with a shriek. She crashed right through the large window that dominated the far wall of the living room and went down in a heap on the front lawn. Regulus followed, stepping through the hole he'd just made.

Bellatrix flew to her feet with unnatural speed, probably aided by magic. Her hair was sticking up in all directions and the glass from the window had cut her in several places.

"You look cold, cousin," Regulus called out. "Shall I warm you up?"

He threw a ball of fire that exploded at her feet, forcing her to jump back.

"Shall I burn you, Bella, the way you burned me? Leave scars that make others mark you as a freak, just as you did to me? Can you imagine the pain? It's worse than any Cruciatus, cousin, because it doesn't stop, it just keeps going until your arm is black and you want to die just to make it end."

He conjured another ball of fire that sat on the tip of his wand, idly twirling it around while staring at Bellatrix. She looked...disconcerted.

"You surprise me, Regulus. Perhaps there's hope for you after all."

Well, THAT popped the bubble of cold fury in his gut real quick. He stopped twirling the fireball and stared at her as she cackled.

"You know what I think, Reggie? I think, if she saw you now, your mother would be very proud of you. A proper Black at last!"

She continued to laugh until Regulus snarled and shot the fireball at her. The crack of Apparition rattled through the air as she disappeared a second before the fire would have struck her, instead sailing harmlessly through the air to explode on the ground.

Regulus felt numb, and not from the cold. He sat by the fire he'd made on the front lawn, and just stared at it, Bellatrix's words ringing in his ears. That was where Andromeda, crying and apologizing profusely (she'd probably thought she'd come back to find him dead) along with Moody and a dozen Aurors found him when they arrived. All Regulus could muster was "I'm sorry I broke your window," and couldn't hug back when Andromeda embraced him. He didn't feel like he deserved it.

******

"Okay, Regulus," Professor Rakepick said when Regulus came into her office for the first time after returning to Hogwarts after the break, "Now that it's full moon, we can begin the actual process of you becoming an Animagus."

She held up a green leaf.

"This is the freshly cut leaf from a mandrake plant, generously provided by Professor Sprout," she said. "The first step in being able to transform is to put this leaf in your mouth, and keep it there, without taking it out or swallowing it, for an entire month until the next full moon.

Regulus eyed the leaf apprehensively. "And how am I supposed to do that? That sounds impossible!"

"Now you're starting to understand why not a lot of people attempt this," Rakepick said sagely. "Luckily, there's a handy trick I learned from Professor McGonagall that will make this easy."

She had Regulus open his mouth and stick out his tongue. Then, in an overwhelmingly weird sensation, she lifted his tongue up and slotted the leaf underneath it. Finally, to Regulus' alarm, she stuck her wand in his mouth and muttered an incantation. 

"There," she said when she was done. "I've used a Sticking Charm to attach it to the underside of your tongue. Try speaking for me please."

"That felt weird," Regulus said.

"Hmm, your voice sounds normal, not strained at all," she said, then handed him a piece of candy. "Pop this in your mouth, chew, and swallow please."

Regulus did so, and then Rakepick had him stick out his tongue again.

"Looks like it's still in place. It doesn't hurt to talk or chew? Are you having trouble swallowing?"

Regulus shook his head. 

"Okay, then we should be good to go. If you start to feel it moving around, if it comes off your tongue, do not take it out of your mouth, and come see me immediately, alright? If it comes out, we have to start over again."

"So I don't have to do anything else right now? That incantation you mentioned...."

"You don't say that yet, you say that after the leaf spends a month in your mouth and then we add it to the potion we have to make."

"Oh, right."

"That's all for now, Regulus. Next time we'll start discussing the potion we need to put together."

"Can I ask you something?" Regulus blurted out.

"I wouldn't be a very good teacher if you couldn't," Professor Rakepick said with a wry smile. "I get the feeling this isn't about my instruction, is it?"

Regulus shook his head. "It's...uh, it's more personal, I guess."

Rakepick sat down at her desk and motioned for Regulus to do the same.

"Alright, out with it then," she said, not unkindly.

"Professor....when you're fighting against Dark Wizards, or people that want to hurt you, how do you keep yourself from...turning into them?"

Rakepick stared at him for a long moment. 

"I take it this has something to do with your cousin's visit to your home just after Christmas."

Regulus nodded. "I fought her, after Andromeda left with the baby. I'd beaten her, at least I think so. But it was like that wasn't enough for me. I wanted to hurt her, the way she hurt me. My mind wasn't working right, it was all red. I said...I said terrible things, things I wanted to do to her. And Bellatrix...she laughed at me. She said that she'd make a 'proper Black' out of me yet."

The professor pushed the candy bowl towards him, indicating he should have some more. She gave him a sympathetic smile.

"I'm afraid there are no easy answers to your question, Regulus. It's a paradox that soldiers and warriors have been struggling with since the beginning of time. How does one fight evil without becoming evil themselves? Perhaps it's a question better posed to a philosopher than a professor."

"I'd like to hear what you think, Professor," Regulus said. "I want to be able to defend myself against people like her, protect the people I care about, but I don't want to become like...she is."

"You'd have to fall very far indeed to become like her, Regulus," Rakepick said. "I went to school with your cousin. She was twisted even back then. There were rumors that she was practicing the Cruciatus Curse on a cat she'd kidnapped out of Ravenclaw tower, this was when we were in fourth year, mind you. Something is broken inside of her, she is what Muggle doctors would call a psychopath: a person incapable of feeling empathy or compassion for others, who delights in causing other people suffering and pain. I'm certain she said what she did because she knew it would bother you the way it clearly has."

"It's a fair question though," Regulus continued, "Most of the Black family has been dark for centuries. The things Sirius and I were taught growing up...they weren't normal."

"You weren't 'born bad' Regulus," Rakepick said. "No one is. We become who we are in no small part because of the choices that we make, THAT is what defines us, not where we come from."

"So how do I make the choice to fight the dark without embracing it?" Regulus asked.

The professor stood up and put her hands behind her back, staring out the window.

"What you have to understand, Regulus, is that what we refer to as 'dark magic' isn't inherently evil, just as so called 'light magic' isn't inherently good. It is what the individual witch or wizard holding the wand chooses to do with that magic that defines it. For example, someone commits a murder, kills a business partner for personal gain, that would be considered an evil act. On the other hand, an Auror kills a criminal in a fight, who had threatened the lives of others. The magic involved, the end results, they are the same, right? But it was the intent, the reasons behind it, that make one a heinous murder and the other a heroic act."

Regulus had followed her with his eyes as she paced around the room, lost in thought.

"The biggest problem with dark magic is that it is so alluring. It is powerful, and much easier to master than other kinds of magic. It allows a wizard to slide into darkness, deeper and deeper until their humanity is gone. This is what happened to Gellert Grindelwald. He started out with noble intentions, you know. But the more dark magic he performed, the more shortcuts he took in order to achieve his goals, he fell further and further, until he was routinely performing savage and cruel acts. By then, of course, his noble intentions were gone, there was only the selfish desire to amass power for himself."

She turned back towards him and sat behind her desk.

"That fact that you're even asking the question is a good sign, Regulus. It is normal to feel angry at someone who has hurt you. I'm guessing the reason you wear long sleeves all the time isn't because you're cold?"

Regulus shook his head and before he realized what he was doing, he was sliding the sleeve on his left arm up to the elbow, letting the professor see the horrific burn marks on his arm.

"When Bellatrix burned our house down, I got this," Regulus said. "There were other injuries too, but this one is the...most visible."

"It is a heavy burden to bear," Rakepick said. "I can understand your anger, since you have to look at your scars every day and remember what she did. However, revenge is not the catharsis that people think it is, trust me, I know. It is noble to want to fight to protect others. It becomes less so when you want to do it for selfish reasons, and getting revenge is definitely selfish."

"I hope Bellatrix doesn't come for me again," Regulus said, "I don't think both of us would make it out alive."

"Killing someone else is a terrible burden to bear for most people. However, sometimes, you don't have a choice, sometimes killing a bad person is the only way to stop them from hurting good people. I pray you never end up in that situation, Regulus, and you live a long and happy life. But if you do, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Reasons that will allow you to live with yourself afterwards."

Regulus let out a breath that he didn't realize he'd been holding. He'd been carrying all this inside himself since Bellatrix's attack, it felt good to talk about it with someone who understood. 

"I feel a lot better now, thank you Professor," Regulus said sincerely.

"You are a good person, Regulus Black," Rakepick replied. "One more piece of advice, if you'll have it. Don't hide your scars. It implies that you're ashamed of them, when you shouldn't be. They are witness marks to your courage, and anyone who says anything about them shouldn't be worth your time anyway."

Regulus didn't reply, he just left the room to go back to Gryffindor Tower. But the next morning, when he was getting dressed, he deliberately left the undershirt in his trunk. No one said anything to him about his arm, barely anyone even looked. And Regulus never felt the need to wear them again.


	17. Chapter 17

"Hello, and welcome to the final game of the 1974-75 Hogwarts Quidditch season! It is also, sadly, the last match for your intrepid commentator, Ebeneezer Jordan, as I have decided it's in my best interest to graduate and leave school at the end of my seventh year at school here! But what a note to go out on, this may be the most exciting match I've ever called! The Quidditch Cup is on the line today, folks! Gryffindor, captained by the boy wonder James Potter, has shocked us all by tying with perennial favorite Slytherin on points going into this game! This one is, as they say, for all the Gobstones! Whoever wins this game, takes the title!"

******

"Alright, you lot, now you know I'm not one for dramatic speeches..."

"So maybe don't start now, James," Sirius said, to laughter. James punched him in the shoulder. 

"What I'm trying to say is, this team has played brilliantly so far, and I'm proud of what we've accomplished, no matter what happens out there today."

"I might tear up, Jamie," Benjy Fenwick, their Keeper, said.

"I agree! If this Qudditch thing doesn't work out, you have a career ahead of you in poetry," Marlene McKinneon, the other Beater besides Sirius, added.

"You guys are the worst," James said.

"I don't know about you lot," Regulus piped up from the corner, "But I'm fixing to go out there and wipe that smug smirk off Evan Rosier's face once and for all."

"Amen to that!" Sirius said. 

"Alright, bring it in here," James said, putting his hand in, the rest of the team followed.

"One more time, for the shiny bauble! We're the Lions, what do we do?!"

"Roar, Roar, Roar!" everyone chanted.

******

"And here comes the Gryffindor team!" Jordan shouted with his microphone, as the crowd roared. "Fourth year Captain Potter inherited a mess of a team and has successfully transformed it into a powerhouse! Of particular note is this year's breakout star, third year Seeker Regulus Black, who set a record in the match against Hufflepuff by catching the Snitch just 2 minutes and 12 seconds after it was released! We're still accepting submissions for what my replacement should nickname young Black, I was informed by him that my previous choice, 'Reggie the Snake Charmer,' was unacceptable to him because it was, and I quote, 'tawdry!' I had to look that up, can you believe that?"

Regulus, sitting on his broom in the air next to James, rolled his eyes.

"I pity whoever he ends up marrying," he said irritably. "He'll be in bed with her and bring a rubber chicken out and hit her with it."

"Ah, but think of how much fun his kids will have growing up with him as a dad!" James said brightly. 

"Pity the staff of Hogwarts when those kids show up," Regulus said. 

"And here comes the Slytherin team!" Jordan continued as the green clad end of the stadium cheered. "Sixth year Captain Evan Rosier has put another intimidating team on the field this year, and he has promised to 'crush the marrow out of the bones' of the Gryffindors while winning the Cup for the third year in a row. I'm almost positive that's not allowed in the rules, but I guess we'll just have to see how Madam Hooch interprets it!"

Regulus couldn't hear what Madam Hooch said as she flew up to the commentator's box on her broom, but from the way she was pointing her finger rather dramatically, he figured it couldn't be anything cheery.

"Ugh, I have to go shake hands with Conan the Barbarian down there," James said, starting to fly away. 

"Try not to catch lice!" Regulus called after him. James turned back.

"Good luck Reggie."

"Back at you, Captain."

James rolled his eyes as he flew off, but he was smiling.

******

The game began, and Regulus, as he usually did, tuned out what was going on with the Chasers, Beaters, and Keepers. It didn't matter what the score was if he caught the Snitch first, after all, so he had to do his job.

To his immense irritation, however, instead of the other seeker doing HIS job, he insisted on sidling himself right up to Regulus to start talking shit.

"Alright there, Mini Black? Arm isn't hurting too much? I have to say, it's a cute look on you, Black, very asymmetrical!"

Regulus forced a smile. "What's happening, Rosy? Did you just call me cute? Don't let the lads back in the common room hear that, you'll never get into those posh high society pureblood parties if they find out you want to see what I look like without a shirt on."

"You won't be so smug when I catch the bloody Snitch before you," Rosier growled.

"Guess we'll have to see about that. What I do know though, is that arm or not, I'll always be prettier than you," Regulus said, then blew a kiss at the Slytherin for good measure. 

"Now, if you'll excuse me...." 

Regulus rocketed off past Rosier, ruffling the other boy's robes and hair. He hadn't seen the Snitch, but he wanted Rosier to think he had and follow him. Which he did, being the gullible idiot that he was. He flew in a spiral around one of the crowd towers, tighter and tighter, and he could feel rather than see Rosier trying to shadow him as closely as possible, until....

CRACK!

Rosier flew too close and smacked into one of the flagpoles, breaking his arm. He flew to the ground as Madam Hooch blew her whistle to stop play. Regulus parked his broom overhead as Madam Pomfrey attended to Rosier.

"Alright there, Rosy? Arm doesn't hurt too bad? It looks PAINFUL!"

"Get out of it, Black!" Madam Hooch shouted at him.

"I'm just trying to express my concern for my opponent, Madam!" Regulus said innocently.

"Pish Posh! Now get back up there or I shall award a penalty shot!"

Regulus shrugged and flew away. The entire crowd had watched the interaction with interest, and nobody was paying attention when Rosier surreptitiously pointed his wand at one of the Bludgers lying motionless on the ground and mumbled an incantation.

******

The game began again, and Regulus found himself dodging a Bludger from his spot way above the stadium, looking for the Snitch. That was weird, normally they didn't come up here. The Beaters kept them pretty busy with the action around the goalposts, and they weren't allowed to hit them at the Seeker unless they were actively chasing the Snitch. Then the Bludger did something Regulus had never seen before: it stopped dead in midair, then reversed itself, heading back towards him, forcing him to dodge again.

What the hell?

The third time it came at him, he realized something was wrong, and flew away. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the Bludger turn to follow him. His eyes widened. This wasn't supposed to happen! Either the thing was malfunctioning, or.....

He remembered the second of Harry's books, when Harry found himself being chased by a Bludger that had been hexed by a house elf. He flew past Rosier, who was bent over sideways laughing at him. That sonofabitch, he'd done this! 

It wasn't that hard to stay ahead of the Bludger, but it did make it rather difficult to look around properly for his quarry. After ten minutes of this, Madam Hooch blew her whistle again.

"Time out!" she called out. The Bludger dropped to the ground. Regulus flew over to his teammates, only to see James marching over to Madam Hooch.

"There is something wrong with that Bludger!" he shouted, pointing at it. "It has been following Reggie since play resumed! It's not safe and needs to be looked at!"

"The Bludgers were inspected prior to the match starting!" Hooch replied. "There has been no tampering with it, and if it's a malfunction, there's no allowance in the rules for it to be replaced or fixed during the match. We have to finish it as it is!"

"That's nonsense!" James said, waving his arms widely. "Obviously someone tampered with it after the match started!"

"Oh? And did you SEE someone tamper with it, Mr. Potter? Because I didn't."

James set his jaw. "Madam, I must insist that you inspect that Bludger for tampering before we resume play."

"And I'm telling you that I cannot!"

"Then you will leave me no choice but to pull my team off the field for safety reasons," James said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No!" Regulus shouted, turning to James. "Walking off means we forfeit, Jamie! I won't let you do that!"

"Regulus, that Bludger has been cursed, what if it hits you in the head? What if it breaks your broom? You could be seriously hurt, even killed!"

"Don't you get it James, this is what they want! They can't beat us on the field so they're trying to cheat their way to a win! Don't let them, not when the Cup is on the line!"

"Reggie, it isn't worth your life!"

"Stop treating me like I'm some damsel in distress, Potter! I can take care of myself and you bloody well know it!"

He softened his voice so only James could hear.

"Just let me do this, alright? I can beat this prick, Bludger or no Bludger."

James closed his eyes and swallowed. Then he opened them again.

"Fine, we play on, then." He turned to Madam Hooch. "But I want it on the record that I am playing this game under protest. After the game is over, I want that Bludger inspected. And if anyone gets hurt I am going to take it up with the headmaster."

"That is your right, Captain," Hooch said tersely.

James grabbed hold of Regulus and stalked away from her.

"Bloody woman," he grumbled. "Are you sure about this, Reggie? I don't like how this feels."

"We're Gryffindors, James, we're supposedly stupidly brave, right?"

"Yeah but you normally leave out the stupid part."

"Guess I'm picking up bad habits from you then."

James shook his head. "Unbelievable. Well, you may have convinced me, but good luck convincing him." He nodded to Sirius, who was determinedly making his way over to where they were.

"Shit," Regulus said under his breath. James made a graceful exit just as Sirius stopped in front of his brother.

"I'm going back up there with you," Sirius said.

"No, you're bloody well not!" Regulus replied. "I'm not going to be able to see the Snitch at all with your elbows in my face all the time!"

"Better my elbow in your face than that Bludger!" Sirius insisted. "I am your brother, I'm supposed to protect you!"

"The pair of you are identical, you and James. I am NOT five years old, Siri. I can take care of myself."

"But..."

"Sirius, I am the Vice Captain of this team. I am telling you, do not fly near me up there, I will hex your broom into toothpicks, I swear to God."

"Why are you so bloody stubborn about this, about putting yourself into danger all the time?" Sirius yelled at him.

"Because no one will ever call me a coward again!" Regulus shouted back, before he could stop himself. Sirius' eyes widened in confusion. Of course his brother didn't know what he was talking about. That was the last thing Sirius had said to Regulus in the old timeline, he'd called him a coward, because he was too afraid to run away like Sirius had. It had been one of the things driving him so hard ever since he'd come back in time, making sure that no matter what, no one would ever call him that again. 

But he had to remember that the Sirius who'd said that to him didn't exist, the Sirius before him was a different person. Before he could say anything else embarrassing, he turned around and walked away. 

"Regulus Arcturus Black!" Regulus stopped and turned around.

"You come back down here in one piece, you hear me? If you don't, you better hope the Bludger kills you, because if it doesn't, I will."

"You know, most brothers just say stuff like 'I love you, be safe.'"

"Most brothers aren't as cool as we are," Sirius said, then gave him one of those Sirius patented smirks.

******

When the game began again, the Bludger went after Regulus like it had before. But Regulus had a plan. He flew straight for Rosier, stopping right next to him. When the Bludger came, both of them had to duck it. Rosier flew away, and Regulus followed, and the Bludger chased them both.

"Get out of it, Black!" Rosier shouted after five minutes of this.

"I'm just bringing your pet back to you, mate!" Regulus retorted. "Since you hexed him to try and kill me, you know!"

I have no idea what you're talking about!" Rosier retorted, as the Bludger whipped overhead.

"No?" Regulus said, raising an eyebrow. "Well let me put it to you this way, Rosy. If I can't look for the Snitch because this thing is chasing me, then I'm going to make sure you can't look for it either."

"I don't think so!" Rosier shot off in the other direction, but Regulus was lighter, more agile, and his broom was faster, so he quickly overtook the Slytherin Seeker.

"Piss, off, Black!" Rosier grunted, as he tried to elbow his way free of Regulus' encroachment.

"I told you, didn't I? I told you not to fuck with me, Evan! So we got two choices here: either you turn this damn Bludger back to normal so we can go back to playing, or we can keep doing this aerial acrobatic display until we both drop dead! So what's it to be?"

"I wish YOU'D drop dead, you blood traitor!" Rosier snarled.

"Trust me, the feeling's mutual."

******

It had been three hours, a marathon for a school game. The crowd had cheered themselves hoarse as the Chasers for both teams ran wild, each scoring over 400 points. But by now most of the attention had shifted to the aerial duel between the two Seekers. Rosier would try to get away from Regulus, but the other boy always quickly caught up and got right in his face. And all the while, the rogue Bludger chased after Regulus, and by extension, Rosier. There had been a number of close calls for both of them, but neither of them had been hit by it yet.

Regulus' lungs were burning from the exertion, Seekers were sprinters, not marathon runners like Chasers. They spent most of the game circling and watching, only when sighting the Snitch did they pour on a burst of speed to go after it. But this constant motion, duck and dodging and weaving, he'd only really done this once before, during that Ravenclaw game last year, but it hadn't been as bad and it hadn't been as long as this one had, with no end in sight. The only consolation Regulus had was that it was clearly getting to Rosier as well.

"You need to...give this up...Black," Rosier panted, as the two came together yet again.

"I can do this...as long as you can," Regulus huffed back, then they broke apart as the Bludger passed by them again. Soon enough though, they were back together.

"Your Bludger....is rather persistent....O for Effort Rosier," Regulus said.

"I've told you, it's not my bloody Bludger!" Rosier said, face red.

"You're a...shit liar...Rosier. And a shit Seeker too. And I'll...prove it...to you!"

Regulus suddenly shot towards the ground, away from Rosier. The crowd roared, such a move could only mean one thing. Rosier must have thought so too, because he pursued as fast as he could. 

Rosier drew alongside Regulus as the two sped towards the ground, faster and faster, towards the base of the Slytherin goal posts. The two Seekers looked at each other as the ground came up on them, Rosier was snarling, and Regulus smirked at him, a passable imitation of his brother. Then, with a flick of his broom, he stopped dead in midair. Rosier shot ahead of him, still looking over his shoulder at Regulus, eyes widened and mouth opened as he realized, too late, what his opponent had done. Rosier slammed into the sand trap, sending sand flying everywhere like a geyser, as Regulus sat on his broom and watched with everyone else. 

There was a colossal cheer from the Gryffindor stand that clashed with the jeers from the Slytherin side. Regulus had just executed a textbook Wronski Feint, well, maybe not textbook, most Seekers pull out of the dive at the last second, not stop in mid air like Regulus had done. Nobody had ever seen anything like it before.

There was a whistling behind him and Regulus suddenly remembered the Bludger, swearing at his own stupidity. But no sooner had he turned around than the Bludger, which had pursued him doggedly for hours, suddenly changed direction and headed off towards the other players, acting again like the other Bludger on the field.

Blinking in confusion, Regulus looked back towards Rosier, who was stumbling too his feet. The other boy's face was white as a sheet, looking at his wand in his hand. Or rather, what was left of his wand. The impact with the ground had snapped it, the two pieces connected only by the piece of Dragon heartstring that made up the core. Regulus suddenly started laughing. Rosier had broken his wand, and when he had, the enchantment he'd cast on the Bludger had ended. 

Regulus only laughed harder as Madam Hooch appeared on the scene, looking furious.

"You want to tell me, Mr. Rosier, why you have your wand in your hand despite the possession of wands during Quidditch games being STRICTLY forbidden?!"

Regulus flew away, back towards the Gryffindor end, as Hooch yelled at Rosier and then sent him off, ejecting him from the game. The cheers from the crowd only got louder as Regulus approached. James and Sirius flew up to him.

"You look entirely too pleased with yourself," Sirius said, having to shout to make himself heard over the crowd noise.

"You could have done that earlier, you know," James said, "saved us all a lot of effort and worry."

"Where would have the fun been in that?" Regulus said, still smirking. "Now, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen?" 

And he shot off away from them, because after all this time, he'd finally seen the damn Snitch, flying around near where Fenwick was posted in front of the Gryffindor goals. He flattened himself against his broom and pushed it as hard as he could. Fenwick dodged out of the way and the Snitch shot upwards, trying to evade him, but Regulus wasn't having it. He reached out a hand and snagged it as both of them went through the center goal post, triggering the dinging sound that played everytime a Quaffle went through it. 

Regulus stared at the Snitch in his hand for a second, then raised it triumphantly over his head. Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and the crowd exploded. 

"GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Jordan was yelling into the microphone, waving his arms excitedly. James and Sirius were both were Regulus had left them, staring at him. James threw his hands up in the air in triumph and Sirius hugged James around the middle. Fenwick got to Regulus first, slapping him on the back. Regulus flew towards the ground, blood pounding in his ears. He handed the Snitch to Madam Hooch and shook her hand, accepting her congratulations, then turned to face his team which had crowded around him. 

"You beautiful sonofabitch, I could kiss you!" James said.

"Now now, Jamie, what would Lily say?" Regulus snarked back.

"She'd probably be happy Jamie was bent so he'd finally leave her alone," Sirius said. "Now come here, you little bastard!" 

Sirius hugged Regulus and hoisted him up in the air, Regulus lifted his arms up and laughed. The pitch was getting crowded now, as Gryffindor House, and most of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, left the stands and came onto the field. Then the crowd parted to let through Professor Dumbledore, carrying the Quidditch Cup and flanked by the four house heads. Professor McGonagall was wiping her eyes with her sleeve and smiling widely, everyone knew what a huge Quidditch fan she was, and this was the first time since she'd been named Head of Gryffindor House that they had won the Cup. 

"What a brilliant way to end another Quidditch season here at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore said, his voice magically magnified. "Both teams should be proud of the way they performed on the field not only during this game, but all season!"

He paused to allow the crowd to cheer.

"Captain Potter, will you join me please?"

James walked up to the group, shaking hands with all the Heads, lingering for a second with Professor McGonagall, and then stood next to the headmaster.

"James, your team has surprised and thrilled us this season with your outstanding performance, capped off by one of the best games this school has ever seen. You all exemplify the word 'champion,' so it is only fitting that, on behalf of the Hogwarts board of governors, I present you with the Hogwarts Quidditch Championship Cup in recognition of your victory."

Everyone applauded as Dumbledore handed James the trophy. Traditionally, the captain would be the first to hoist the trophy, but James hesitated, holding the cup. Then he locked eyes with Regulus and beckoned him forward. Regulus didn't want to go, but was literally pushed forward by his brother, because Sirius is a traitor. James held the cup out to Regulus.

"You should do it, Reggie."

"What? No, you're the captain, James, you do it first."

"You're the Vice Captain, aren't you? Besides, none of this would have been possible without you. When it was only us two at the start of the year, and I was ready to give up, you didn't let me."

"You're just as much responsible for this as I am, Jamie," Regulus said. Then he sighed, James could be so stubborn sometimes. 

"Let's do it together, alright James? One on each side, that good enough?"

James grinned and nodded. 

"On three then. One, two..."

Together, they hoisted the Quidditch Cup over their heads, to the cheers of their fellow students. Regulus closed his eyes and soaked in the moment. He'd won three Cups as a member of the Slytherin team the first time around, but none of them had felt like this. So if he shed a few tears of happiness while being embraced by the throng during the celebration on the field, well, that was nobody's business but his.


	18. Chapter 18

Rosier was thrown off the Quidditch team, forced to forfeit his captain's badge by an angry Professor Slughorn. But the worst punishment was that he was forbidden from replacing his broken wand until the school year ended. That didn't even come from Hogwarts, his parents sent him a letter essentially saying that if he was stupid enough to break it, obviously he didn't need it and could wait until summer break to get a new one.

Severus told Regulus about it a week after the game, and he seemed exceptionally smug about it too. 

"Nobody at the Slytherin table will sit with him," he said, that little sadistic smirk on his face, "Mulciber, who's supposed to be his closest friend, is telling people that Evan's a damn fool and made the whole house look bad over a Quidditch tiff."

"So who is loaning him his wand during classes since he can't use his?" Regulus asked.

"Whoever is unfortunate enough to be partnered with him," Severus shrugged. "Nobody's volunteering."

Without a wand, Rosier wasn't much of a threat, but that didn't stop him from running his mouth. That was, until a few of the older Gryffindors, 7th years who decided little Regulus Black was their little brother, paid the Slytherin a social call in a deserted hallway. The next morning, Rosier came to the breakfast table with a black eye and a split lip, and a story about how he fell in the shower. He didn't have anything to say about Regulus Black or any other Gryffindor after that.

******

At sunrise, the alarm rang inside Regulus' head, just as it had every sunrise for the last three weeks. After groaning and rubbing his eyes, he sat up in bed and grabbed his wand from the nightstand. He pointed it over his heart, mumbling "Amato Animo Animato Animagus." He could feel the pulse through his body, knowing that the spell was still working. He had to recite the incantation every day at sunrise and sunset, waiting on, of all things, a thunderstorm. 

He got out of bed and padded over to the window softly. He was probably the only person in the castle who was happy to see it raining this morning, and raining hard. But then, it had rained three times in the last three weeks, and it either hadn't been raining by the time night rolled around, or if it had, it hadn't been thunderstorming.

"Christ, Black, go back to bed," Dirk Cresswell said through his pillow. "When'd you become an early riser all of a sudden?"

"Sorry," Regulus replied softly, collapsing back on his bed. 

******

The thunder rattled the windows of the castle all morning, and at lunch, Professor Rakepick waved Regulus up to the staff table.

"I have a friend, a Squib who works down at the weather service for the Muggles in London. She says that it's supposed to be a heavy storm up here the rest of the day, into the night and tomorrow."

"So are we going to do it tonight then?" Regulus said, starting to allow himself to get excited.

"Assuming the weather holds, yes. You will meet me at 9PM up on the Astronomy Tower. Here's your pass in case you get stopped in the hallway for being out past curfew."

"Alright."

"You still have to say the incantation at sunset. You're sure you've done it every morning and night since we met on the tower to make the potion?"

"Yes, I set a magical alarm."

"Good. Then I'll see you tonight, Mr. Black."

"Thank you, Professor."

Regulus walked back to the Gryffindor table. Sirius gave him the eyebrow.

"More Defense lessons from Professor Rakepick?"

"My conversations with professors are none of your business, Siri," Regulus said it lightly enough, but carried a note of finality to it. 

"I don't get it, Reggie. You're the top student in the class, probably in the school. What could you need to talk to the professor about?"

"I told you, Sirius, it is none of your business."

"I'm just curious. that's..."

"BLACK!"

Both of them stopped and looked up at the girl coming towards them, all fire and brimstone.

"Sirius, what did you do?" Regulus asked in an undertone.

"I honestly don't have a clue," Sirius replied, nonetheless looking alarmed.

Lily came to a stop in front of them, hands on her hips.

"Yes Lily, how can I help you?" Sirius asked, giving her the award winning smile he saved for people who were extremely pissed off at him.

"Not you, him," she said, pointing at Regulus, who visibly quailed.

"What? What did I do?"

"Just come with me, Regulus," she said, rather insistently.

The two brothers shared a look, the look that said nothing out loud but silently said "If I don't come back, you're my witness." Then Regulus stood up and walked to the end of the table, to be intercepted by Lily, who grabbed his upper arm in a vice grip and led him out of the Great Hall.

"Look, Lily, you're scaring me a little here, what is going on?"

"We're going to talk about something, is what's going on."

They'd stopped in front of a door.

"In a...bathroom?" Regulus said, in confusion.

Lily opened the door. "Yes, get in."

Well, it wasn't the first time he'd been in a girl's bathroom while at school, so what the hell? He walked into the bathroom and looked around curiously. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary about the bathroom, no crowd of people waiting to ambush him or anything. Still, he was a little concerned when Lily locked the door after closing it.

"Alright Reggie," Lily said, once she'd turned to look at him. "We need to talk about your hair."

"My HAIR?" Regulus said. He blinked at her, mouth open.

"Yes, your hair. If you're going to grow it out long like that, you need to learn how to take care of it."

"I HAVE been taking care of it!" Regulus protested, a little offended.

Lily scoffed. "You see my hair? THAT is taken care of. Yours? It's lanky, covered in split ends, it hangs around your face like a wet blanket." She flicked his hair for emphasis. "Look, I'm not judging you. You're not the first boy I've dragged in here. Remember how James used to tease Severus for having greasy hair? Well after I finally took him aside, that stopped, because he learned how to take care of his hair properly."

Regulus stared at himself in the mirror. Then he sighed as he realized what happened. In the old timeline, he'd cut his hair short in second year, after the breach between him and his brother started. He'd kept it short ever since. This time though, he'd kept his hair long, but he'd still been washing it the way he always had.

"Oh go on then," he said.

"Right. First off, I don't know what shampoo you're using, probably some basic thing for men and boys. That works fine if you've short hair, but for long hair, you need something that will help with split ends and to give it proper volume, like this one."

She set a bottle of shampoo down on the vanity in front of them.

"But the biggest difference is, with long hair, you need to use hair conditioner AFTER you shampoo your hair. Feel my hair, right? Now feel it alongside yours. Notice the difference? That's conditioning." She set another bottle next to the first one.

"Use these when you shower, you'll start to notice a difference immediately. Now let's talk about styling your hair. Here, turn around, put your back towards me."

She bunched his hair together and pulled on it gently, then twisted it up and behind his head. She pulled a hair tie off her wrist and wrapped it around the hair.

"There, this is called a messy bun. Takes seconds, and it gets the hair off your neck and out of your eyes. Turn around for me."

Regulus did.

"Here, see? Now we can see your eyes. You have nice eyes, Regulus, you should wear your hair up so people can see them."

She kissed him on the forehead, making him blush.

"Now go back to lunch. And don't you dare undo your hair."

"Uhhh...sure. Okay."

Regulus practically bolted from the bathroom, feeling the hair products weighing down the pockets of his robes. When he got back to the Great Hall, Sirius caught his eye, and nudged James sitting next to him. James looked over, and started laughing.

"Aww, look at Reggie! Lily's made him all pretty!"

Regulus sat down, his face bright red. He put his head down on the table as everyone laughed at him.

"I think you're just jealous Reggie got to spend some alone time with Evans and you didn't, Jamie," Remus said. Well, THAT shut James up right quick.

"Don't fret about it, Reggie," Sirius said in an undertone, while Remus and Peter were laughing at James. "Lily did the SAME thing to me last year."

******

Regulus walked briskly down the hallway, cloak bundled around himself. He couldn't help contrasting this evening with the last time he found himself walking to the Astronomy Tower alone. Last time, he hadn't bothered with the cloak. He figured the alcohol would keep him warm enough until...until it was time.

Now though...now he was practically bouncing up the stairs. Not even the pouring rain as he emerged onto the Astronomy platform could dampen his spirits. There was Professor Rakepick, under the awning, the hood of her cloak up.

"Lovely night for it, isn't it?" she said lightly, as lightning forked across the black sky overhead.

"Does anyone know why the potion HAS to be drunk the night of a thunderstorm?" Regulus asked, pulling up his own hood to ward off the rain pelting his face.

"Mr. Black, asking why magic works the way it does is a question best left to the Department of Mysteries. Even if you find out, you tend to go mad in the process."

"Yes Professor, because standing on top of an exposed tower during a lightning storm is a rational thing to do," Regulus said, making her laugh.

"Oh you're my favorite student, I hope you know that! Anyway, on to business. You recited the incantation at sundown?"

"Yes."

"Perfect, then we're ready." She withdrew her hand from her cloak pocket, holding a vial of potion, brewed using the mandrake leaf Regulus had in his mouth for a month, one of Regulus' hairs, dew collected in a silver teaspoon that hadn't been exposed to sunlight for a week, and the chrysalis of a Death's Head Hawk Moth. It had been stored at the back of a storage cupboard, in the dark and undisturbed, for the last three weeks waiting on this moment. Rakepick unstoppered the vial and handed it to him.

"Point your wand at your heart and recite the incantation one more time. Then immediately after you're done, drink the potion in one go. It's going to taste horrid, but DON'T spit it out."

Heart pounding, Regulus held the vial with his right hand and his wand with his left. He remembered reading somewhere that left handed people tended to be smarter than right handed people, but tended not to live as long because they lived in a world designed for right handed people, and why the hell was he thinking of this NOW?

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus," he said clearly, then downed the contents of the vial. She was right, it DID taste horrible. But then, it had a bug in it, of course it was going to taste horrible. Regulus had no idea how people in Africa ate bugs all the time. Regulus handed the empty vial back to the professor.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Not really any different," Regulus replied, stowing his wand away. "Wait...there's something, in my stomach. It feels weird."

"That's your body, telling you what your animal form is. Close your eyes, Regulus, visualize what your body is telling you."

"Okay," Regulus said. He closed his eyes. He saw flashes of something...fierce. Claws swiping, teeth gnashing, fur rippling. Then there was a soft whoosing noise and he felt like he'd fallen down. Surprised, Regulus opened his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was that he could see a lot clearer. That was good. He tried to stand up, but wait....he was already standing up. On all four...paws? Paws. Oh. 

"Regulus, can you hear me?" Professor Rakepick said, and he looked up at her. Either she was way taller than she used to be, or he was way smaller. That wasn't a good sign. Oh God, he hoped he wasn't something cute and cuddly.

"Nod your head if you understand me," Professor Rakepick said. He did it, and she gave him a strange look. 

"Okay, that was weird. But then, I guess I did that with Professor....nevermind. Do you want to see what you look like?"

Another nod. Rakepick conjured a mirror and set it on the ground in front of him. Regulus stared at himself. Well, he supposed it could be worse.

He was looking at a black cat with bright yellow eyes. He sat back on his haunches to look at himself better, tail swishing idly back and forth. He wasn't completely black, his left front paw was white, the same spot where the scars on his arm were. If he'd been human he would have sighed, he couldn't get away from his injury even in animal form.

Rakepick waved away the mirror. "Now I want you to change back. Visualize your human form, let it fill your mind. Go on now."

Regulus closed his eyes and thought about what Regulus the human looked like, and with a whoosh, suddenly he was a boy again, sitting on his butt on the rain soaked stone.

"Well, how about that, Mr. Black?" Professor Rakepick said with a smile.

"Wow," Regulus said, holding up his arm. 

"Exactly what I thought the first time. You can change back and forth at will, just visualize your cat form and you'll transform, try it out now."

Regulus did, and whoosh, he was a cat. He tried walking, then running a little. Moving with his face this close to the ground was kinda weird, but he supposed he'd get used to it. Oh. Oh wait no. He'd gone out too far and was now in the open air, with the rain hitting his fur, and he did. not. like. it. He turned around and bolted back towards the professor, who chuckled at him. This time, he changed back into a human without being prompted, and manage to do it without soaking his robes.

"There, see? You're already getting the hang of it. You'll need to take some time to get used to your animal form, how to move around and stuff. You'll feel animal instincts in the back of your mind, tap into those, it'll help you."

"Professor, thank you. This...means a lot."

"Don't thank me yet, now we have to do the paperwork. Tomorrow I'll have to go to Professor Dumbledore to report your successful transformation, he'll get someone from the Ministry down here, you'll have to transform in front of them, and you'll be officially registered."

"Well, there go my plans for spying on people," Regulus said, only half joking.

"If it's any consolation, literally nobody looks at the list of registered Animagi after you get put on it, so in all likelihood, nobody you don't want to will find out, unless you literally transform in front of them."

Regulus nodded. That made sense.

"But Regulus, I'll only warn you once. Two of your professors are Animagi as well, and Dumbledore will know. DON'T use your power for anything foolish, and by foolish I don't mean sneaking out after curfew. I mean things that will get you in real trouble."

"I wasn't planning on it, Professor," Regulus said honestly.

"I didn't think you were, I'm just giving you the same warning I would any student. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm tired of getting wet, and our business is concluded. So let's go down."

Regulus walked back to the dormitory feeling really good about himself. This was better than winning the Quidditch Cup, he'd been part of a team there. And it was better than killing the basilisk, because he'd been terrified he'd be killed. This, he'd done completely on his own, other than Professor Rakepick's guidance. 

But mostly, he felt good because God damn, he was going to fuck with Sirius so hard over this, the boy had no idea!


	19. Chapter 19

"I just don't understand where he is. Reggie is NEVER late to Marauder planning sessions!" Sirius said, in annoyance. He, James, Remus, and Peter were in their dorm room, waiting on Regulus to begin planning THE BIG ONE, their traditional end of year school wide prank. Except Regulus wasn't there, and nobody knew where he was.

"We need like...a radar map or something, like the Muggles have," Remus said thoughtfully, "something that allows us to keep track of where everyone in the school is. Then we'd figure out where he's at quickly."

"I'm going to go look in his dorm again," Peter said, getting up and going to the door. 

"No wait, Pete, come back," Sirius said, while Peter was in the doorway, "If Reggie has something better to do than hang out with us, then we should get on with it without him." 

Peter closed the door again, but not before a small black cat slipped into the dorm, unnoticed by the boys.

"Reggie's been sneaking around the castle all year," James said. "He comes in here at night when he thinks we're asleep and takes the cloak, brings it back in the morning."

"If I didn't know better, I'd think my brother has a girlfriend or something," Sirius said, leaning back against the bed. 

"What makes you think its a girlfriend?" Remus said. 

"Well, I mean, the sneaking around, the secrets, the telling me to mind my own business..."

"No, Sirius, what makes you think it's a GIRL he's going to meet?" Remus said, raising his eyebrows. "It's just as possible that he's going off somewhere to meet a secret BOYfriend, isn't it?"

"I...uh, what? Remy do you know something?" 

"No, I don't. I'm just saying, don't assume. Have you ever ASKED your brother what he might be into?"

"I'd prefer not to think about my brother shacking up with anyone, thank you very much!" Sirius said indignantly. "He's a baby!"

"He's only a year younger than you," Peter pointed out.

"It's different! He's so small, and, and...delicate, and oh God Remus, what if you're right? What if its some big ugly MAN putting his paws all over him?"

"I think you're being a tad dramatic, mate," James said.

"Oh yeah? Well what if it's Evans that he's secretly going out to meet, huh? What if it's Reggie sticking his tongue down...OUCH!"

There was a cat on the bed behind Sirius, who had just taken a clump of hair into its mouth and yanked on it.

"What the hell? Whose cat is this?"

"I've never seen it around the dorms before, maybe it's new?" Peter said. 

"Maybe it got in from another house, you know how they wander around," James said. 

"Well wherever it came from, it doesn't belong here, eating my hair! Oi, stop it, you!"

But the cat just pulled on his hair harder. Sirius tried to stand up, but the cat came along for the ride, jumping on top of his head.

"Son of a...get off me, you sodding creature! One of you help me!"

"No way, man, I don't wanna get scratched!" James said, laughing at his friend's predicament. Remus and Peter were equally unhelpful, so Sirius had to fight the cat on his own. Finally Sirius seized it around the middle and pulled it off of his head, holding it out away from himself, face to face.

"Well! What have you got to say for yourself now, eh?" Sirius said triumphantly. There was a whoosh, and the weight in Sirius' hands seemed to multiply exponentially. The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back on the floor, staring up at the smirking face of his little brother.

"I say hi, Siri!" Regulus said. Sirius stared at him incredulously. 

"Reggie! What the hell? How did you do that?"

"Do what? This?" In a flash, Regulus transformed back into the cat, leaping lightly off of Sirius' chest and sauntering over to the middle of the circle of boys.

"You're an Animagus!" Remus said in amazement. "THAT's why all the secret meetings with Professor Rakepick! She's been teaching you how!"

Regulus transformed back, then nodded. "Yep! There's my secret, Siri. So no secret girlfriends OR boyfriends, sorry."

"Hey, you were eavesdropping on us!" James said.

"Yeah well, it isn't nice to gossip about someone when they aren't around," Regulus replied. 

"How come you didn't tell us?" Sirius said, sounding hurt.

"Because I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it," Regulus said. "I transformed for the first time last night. I just got back from doing all the paperwork in Dumbledore's office with the Ministry. They made me sign a statement that said I wasn't going to use my animal form to break into Gringotts, of all places. Apparently some treaty they have with the goblins. Anyway, are you surprised?"

"Am I surprised that my little brother is an adorable little fluffball that pulls on my hair? No," Sirius said with a grin.

"We should give your cat form a nickname!" James said brightly.

"Do it and I'll pee in your shoes, Potter," Regulus said darkly.

******

Regulus was walking down the hallway, alone, minding his own business. It was two weeks before the end of term, and final exams were in full swing. He had just come from one, History of Magic, what a useless subject, made worse by the useless Professor. 

He'd been playing around a lot with his Animagus form, transforming and wandering around the castle for a couple of hours at night. Sometimes too, he just hung around the Gryffindor Common Room as a cat, curled up on the back of a chair or something. People would scratch him behind the ears and he'd purr. He'd never tell anyone he enjoyed that, though.

The only problem was, his brother and friends kept tormenting him about it. When James or Sirius would find him in cat form, they'd make a big deal out of coming over and picking him up, twirling him around, holding him so they could scratch his belly, all the while cooing over him like a baby. Despite Regulus' warnings, James had come up with a name to call his cat form, which he used in front of other people: Shadow. Regulus supposed he didn't HATE the name. Now he just had to work on getting the rest of them Animagus forms and their nicknames: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs, and Shadow. Although, maybe he should let things progress naturally. Maybe in this timeline, he was the only one to end up becoming an Animagus. He doubted it though, Sirius in particular seemed miffed his little brother had mastered a kind of magic he hadn't, it was only a matter of time until he did it himself. Hopefully he learned from the way Regulus had gone about it that he didn't have to keep it a secret, breaking the law in the process like he had the first time around. 

A door banged open to his right. Regulus turned and was confronted by his worst nightmare: Bellatrix Black. Regulus went for his wand, but she already had a bead on him, and sent him flying backwards into the wall. His head cracked on the stone, making his vision swim. He felt the front of his robes being seized and he was dragged into the room Bellatrix had been in and dropped unceremoniously on the floor.

Bellatrix slammed the door and turned back to him. 

"Well well, cousin Reggie, fancy meeting you here?" she cackled. "Oh, you're so predictable, you know. Always walking down THIS corridor on your own on the way to lunch. You made it too easy!"

"If you're going to kill me, just get it over with," he groaned out, his head throbbing.

"Oh no, Regulus, that would be too simple. You think I arranged my way into Hogwarts just to kill little old you? I could have waited until summer for that."

She jerked him to his feet and pushed him into a chair. Regulus realized suddenly they were in Professor Rakepick's office. Bellatrix divested him of his wand and then bound him to the chair with conjured ropes. Then she pulled a vial out of her robes.

"You know what this is, cousin?" Regulus did, he'd know the smell of Polyjuice Potion anywhere.

"What the hell are you planning, Bellatrix?"

Bellatrix only laughed. "Well, you see Reggie, Professor Dumbledore is about to have a lunch appointment with a trusted friend of his, one where he's going to have a rather unfortunate accident. And while that happens, I'm going to attend to that uptight bitch of a Deputy of his in the Great Hall."

Regulus' eyes widened. "You're going to murder McGonagall in front of a thousand people? You're mad!"

Her demented grin widened. "No, dear Reggie, I'm not going to do it. YOU are."

She seized hold of the bun his hair was in, yanking it free and pulling some of his hair out in the process. She dropped the hair into the potion, watching as it fizzled and changed color.

"Don't you see now, the brilliance of it? No one will suspect Regulus Black, Gryffindor golden boy, will they? At least, not before the boy snaps and murders his professor in front of the entire school, with his own wand," she held up Regulus' wand for emphasis.

"And that's why you're still alive, Reggie dear. I'm going to leave you here, and after I'm done, I'll come back up here, and modify your memory. They'll all say you were a bad seed all along, won't they? You're a Black, of course you turned out mad and dark! They'll have you in Azkaban by the end of the day, I'd say, and Hogwarts will have a new Headmaster, someone more....amenable to my master's will."

"You'll never get away with this, the other professors, they'll figure you out!" Regulus said angrily.

"Oh, dear, naive Reggie. You really think I got in this school without help? Shame, you just can't trust anybody these days," she said, tutting at him.

Regulus paled. Someone in the school was a traitor. They'd let Bellatrix in, and they were the ones that were going to kill Dumbledore! 

"You know, I WAS just going to kill you. But my master convinced me that this was better, and he's right. Now everyone will know what a worthless little shit you are. Your own brother will disown you! Vengeance is sweet!" she cackled.

"I swear to you, cousin! I'll kill you for this if it's the last thing I ever do!" Regulus snarled at her.

"I look forward to seeing you try," Bellatrix laughed, then gagged him. The door opened. It was Jacob. The boy had a book in his hands, he stopped cold when he saw what was going on.

"Sorry kiddo," Bellatrix said, "But you just walked through the wrong door."

She leveled her wand at him before he could react. "Avada Kedavra!"

The green light filled the room, the bolt striking Jacob in the belly. He was thrown against the wall of the office, sliding down it until he came to rest in a crumpled heap on the baseboard, dead.

"Well, that complicates things," Bellatrix said, unaffected. "Friend of yours, was he? Too bad. Now, where were we?"

She downed the potion and in seconds, he was staring at himself. She'd even managed to find a set of school robes with a Gryffindor tie somewhere.

"See you soon, Reggie!" Bellatrix sang out in his own voice, leaving the office and slamming the door behind her, leaving Regulus alone with Jacob's body.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your kind comments and for following along this far! Even if I don't reply, know that I read all of them and they make me happy! 
> 
> And now, back to the action! (This may be the wildest thing I've ever written, and I once got paid to write Twitter jokes for a New York actor.)

Sadness, fear, confusion, rage. All the emotions swirling within Regulus combined together and solidified into a ball somewhere in his stomach. He stared at Jacob's body for a second, trying to convey how sorry he was. But, shit, he didn't have time, he didn't have time! He had to stop her from killing anyone else.

So he swept the emotions, the thoughts aside, replacing it with the will to ACT. It was this cold logic that he'd employed to save himself and Sirius from Bellatrix and their parents, the same detachment he used to fight the basilisk. But this? This was on a whole other level.

First things first, get out of the bindings. Well that was easy enough. In a flash, he transformed into a cat, the ropes and gag dropping off of him, far to large to hold him now. He hopped down to the floor and changed back. He looked at the door, and could tell she'd spelled it shut. He could ram against it all day and still not get it open. 

He looked down at Jacob for a second. He could take his wand. But he quickly dismissed the thought, it would be...wrong. 

"I'm sorry I even thought of it, Jacob," Regulus said out loud. "I'm sorry for all of this."

Then he picked up the chair he'd been bound to and threw it through the window. He stuck his head through the hole he'd made and watched the ripples in the Black Lake below from where the chair and the glass impacted it. He took off his robe, using it to clean out the remaining glass quickly and throwing it on the floor, leaving him in his shirt and trousers. 

He climbed into the window frame. "Oh, Reggie, this is a BAD idea." 

Then he took a swan dive out the window, transforming into Shadow halfway down, landing in the Black Lake with a splash.

******

Albus Dumbledore sat behind his desk, surveying the woman in front of him. 

"Thank you for seeing me, Professor Dumbledore," Professor Rakepick said, sitting across from him.

"Of course, I'm always happy to talk to you, Patricia," Dumbledore said with a smile. "May I ask what's on your mind?"

"I wanted to inform you that I will be resigning from my position here at Hogwarts at the end of term," Rakepick said.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Dumbledore said. "You've done a fine job with the students this year. May I ask why?"

"I'm going abroad," Rakepick answered. "I have some exciting work down in Albania waiting for me."

"Indeed! Well, I wish you the best of luck with that, Patricia."

"You might want to hold off on that," Rakepick said. "See, the other reason I'm leaving, is because it would be awkward, me staying employed here...."

She drew her wand and got to her feet.

"....after I've killed you."

******

Cats, it turns out, are excellent swimmers, when they can be bothered to. Regulus swam for the inlet that the first year boats pull into at the start of the school year, and clambered out, up the stairs that led up to the entrance hall. His time in Slytherin proved useful, as he took a shortcut in the bowels of the school that would bring him to the side door to the Great Hall, the one the teachers used but students weren't allowed to. 

He had run the whole way up as Shadow, figuring it would be faster. But now the door to the Great Hall was closed, necessitating his reversion to human form to turn the handle and push it open. He surveyed the scene. Professor McGonagall was seated at the staff table, eating lunch. And...there! The imposter Regulus had just come through the main door and was walking up the center aisle towards the staff table. Bellatrix had her hand in her robes, no doubt clutching HIS stolen wand. 

Regulus broke into a run, he had no breath to shout, he couldn't even hear himself think, the blood was pounding in his ears like angry snare drums. He had to stop her! But he was too far away, she'd get a curse off before he...he wasn't too far away from the Professor.

With a grace he didn't know he possessed, he vaulted over the staff table to land behind it. He could see Bellatrix now, feet away from McGonagall. The Deputy Headmistress was turning to look at who she thought was Regulus Black, who was now drawing their wand....

Regulus dived just as Bellatrix screamed "Avada Kedavra!"

******

"Patricia," Dumbledore said gently, "why?"

"You know why!" the woman shrieked at him. "Keep your hands up, Dumbledore!"

"No I don't know why, Patricia, please, tell me what I've done to you."

"What you've done to me?" Rakepick said incredulously, "You ruined my entire life, is what you did! You took my father from me!"

"I don't understand," Dumbledore said, "Your parents are still alive, I haven't done anything to them."

"Those are my ADOPTED parents, you simple old fool!"

It was like time froze, the portraits on the walls stared silently at the unfolding drama.

"I wasn't aware you were adopted, Patricia," Dumbledore said quietly.

"Yeah well, big secret, wasn't it? The family shame! I didn't even know myself, until I met my new friend in Albania. HE was the only one who had the decency to tell me the truth!"

"Tell ME the truth now, Patricia," Dumbledore said. "What has you so angry?"

"My real name, Albus, the one I was born as. It's Patricia Jazmin Grindelwald."

******

Regulus tackled Professor McGonagall to the floor, hitting her from the side and sending them both sprawling. The green light from Bellatrix's curse arked overhead, right where McGonagall had been sitting a second before. It blew out the window behind the staff table in a fearsome crash of glass. 

Students sitting at the table started to shout and scream, but Regulus only had eyes for one person. He rolled off the professor and drew the only weapon he had on him: the knife he carried in a sheathe at his ankle, that he mostly used in Potions class, but ever since he'd been taken hostage at the Ministry, he'd carried it around with him, just in case. 

He peered over the top of the table. Bellatrix had his face twisted into a snarl, and his wand was pointed at the ceiling. He suddenly realized that she was going to try and blow up the Great Hall, not caring how many hundreds of students she killed or maimed in the process. 

He locked eyes with her. It was funny, she was wearing his face, but underneath, he could still tell it was her. The hatred, the rage, the madness, it was all there right beneath the surface for him to see. He threw the knife at her. He felt magic crackling around it as he let go, but it was only later that he realized he'd cast a wordless, wandless, Acceleration Charm on the knife as he threw it. 

The blade struck home, sinking into Bellatrix's chest with a thud. She froze, mouth opening and closing but no sound coming out. The wound undid the Polyjuice Potion, and when Bellatrix looked down to see the knife sticking out of her, it was with her own face. She fell backwards onto the floor, Regulus' wand slipping from her fingers and rolling underneath the Hufflepuff table. 

Regulus jumped over the staff table again, ignoring the chaos as students screamed and started fleeing from the Great Hall. He seized Bellatrix by the front of her robes.

"Who helped you?! Who let you into the school?!" he shouted at her. Bellatrix grinned at him, a rivulet of blood coming out of her mouth.

"Rakepick was right about you," she gasped out. Then she laughed, coughing up blood. She died like that, choking on her last mad laugh. Regulus let her lifeless body drop back to the floor, staring at her blood on his hands. The betrayal that washed over him hit him like a ton of bricks. It was another betrayal in a long list of them, stretching back through two timelines and included the woman lying dead in front of him, a cousin who was supposed to be family.

A hand was placed on his shoulder, and he was startled out of his thoughts. It was Professor McGonagall.

"Regulus," she said softly, "Are you alright?"

He nodded glumly, gesturing at the body. "She came here, to kill you."

"I saw. You saved my life, Mr. Black."

Regulus didn't really know what to say to that. But he knew it wasn't over yet.

"Professor McGonagall, the Headmaster is in danger."

******

"You stole my birthright, Dumbledore! That wand you carry, it should have been mine!" 

"That's why you're doing this? For my wand?"

"It isn't YOUR wand, is it?"

"It is just as much mine as it is your father's. He stole the wand, you know. From Gregorovitch, years after we parted company."

"You lie!"

"Why would I lie about that?"

"The same way you lie about everything else! You're telling me you had no idea that your great rival, your old friend, your old LOVER," she spat the word like it was something dirty, "fathered a daughter with Vinda Rosier? That after you defeated my father in your famous duel, my birth mother killed herself, unable to be parted from him? That her cousin found me, and she and her husband raised me as their own daughter, worried about the stigma attached to the daughter of Grindelwald? You knew NONE of this, sitting in your ivory tower where you know EVERYTHING?"

"I can honestly say I didn't know any of that, Patricia. Please, listen to me. I understand you're angry, but you haven't hurt anyone yet. You don't have to go down this road, you are a good person."

"My FATHER is a good person, and you betrayed him and the ideals he stood for!" 

"Your father made a choice to go down that dark path, a path I could not follow him. I had no choice but to confront him, Patricia, he was killing thousands of innocent people!"

"Necessary sacrifices for the greater good, Dumbledore! You understood that once. I will have the Elder Wand for myself, and I will use it to finish my father's work!"

"This isn't the way, Patricia! Don't do this!"

"It is too late, Albus!" Rakepick shouted. "Don't you understand? It's already begun! My friend, he extracted a price for his information about my father. I paid that price when I let Bellatrix Black into Hogwarts today."

Dumbledore's mouth set into a frown, eyes narrowing. "You let her into my school, among my students?" The question was stated calmly enough, but there was now an unmistakeable iciness to his voice that wasn't there before.

"She has her own mission to perform. I hope the end for Minerva is quick, I always did like her. I seriously doubt her plan to frame Regulus Black for it is going to succeed though, Bellatrix isn't the most subtle person in the world."

"So, that's why you got close to Regulus this year," Dumbledore said.

"Well, I'll admit to wanting to keep an eye on him, but I DO like the boy. I warned Bellatrix not to underestimate him, but she never listened to me in school, why would she start now? Teaching him how to become an Animagus was just the icing on the cake. Personally, I think Regulus is going to kill Bella, either today or in the future, but that isn't my problem."

"So then, Patricia," Dumbledore said calmly, "This is truly the side you've chosen?"

"It is, Dumbledore. And now I'm tired of talking."

"As am I."

Rakepick was suddenly blown off her feet by a blast of magic that came out of nowhere, cartwheeling backwards over the chair and landing in a heap in front of the office door. 

"My hands are still visible, Patricia," Dumbledore said, stepping out from behind his desk, "but you are truly naive if you think I need a wand in my hand to perform magic."

Another wave hit her, and she flew through the office door and tumbled down the stairs, past the gargoyle who leapt aside as she slid past, and out into the hallway. Dumbledore was waiting for her, he'd appeared in the hallway in a flash of fire as his familiar, Fawkes the phoenix, flew away with a cry. Dumbledore had his wand in his hand now.

"You were wrong about one thing, Patricia," Dumbledore said calmly. "You aren't going to be given the chance to resign, I am terminating you from your position with immediate effect."

Rakepick fired a curse at him, that Dumbledore blocked with a flick of his wrist. She stumbled to her feet.

"You're a bastard, Albus Dumbledore," she spat at him.

"That's all you have to say now? Where is that bluster I was hearing a minute ago? You want the Elder Wand, don't you? It's right here, but I won't make it easy for you to take it."

Rakepick screamed and started casting rapid fire spells at him, and they began to duel. Patricia Rakepick was a formidable duellist, more than a match for most opponents. But Albus Dumbledore wasn't called the greatest wizard of his age for nothing. Rakepick hadn't been able to land any hits on him, while she had been stuck by a couple of spells that knocked the wind out of her, including one that sent her tumbling into a suit of armor, which crashed to the ground with a loud clang. She cast a Shield Bubble, that formed around her in a half sphere. It was a rare, powerful form of magic, no spells could penetrate the barrier in either direction, which meant it had limited usefulness. The spell effectively trapped her inside the bubble unless she undid it.

A few seconds later, McGonagall and Regulus skidded around the corner at the opposite end of the hallway, wands drawn. 

"Patricia!" McGonagall called out. Rakepick turned to face them.

"Minerva! I'm glad you made it," she said, giving her a sad smile. Then she turned to Regulus. "And now I see why. You truly are destined for great things, Regulus Black."

"Professor," Regulus said mournfully, "why?"

"It's like I told you, Regulus. Revenge isn't all it's cracked up to be. And dark magic consumes you from the inside out. I guess in the end, I just couldn't resist."

"Bellatrix...she killed Jacob, Professor. Right in front of me, because he was trying to find you to give you your book back. He liked you so much, you know, and you betrayed him. You betrayed all of us."

"I'll let you in on a little secret, Regulus," Rakepick said sadly. "This is only the beginning. War is coming to Wizarding Britain, and if I were you, I'd run far away from this place."

"Who is bringing the war, Patricia?" Dumbledore asked. "Who is your friend in Albania?"

"You already know the answer to that," Rakepick replied. "And soon, so will everyone else. He will unleash a reign of terror so fierce that people will be too afraid to even speak the NAME of Lord Voldemort! And in the end, he will rule over all of you, and I hope to God that he finishes what I started and kills you, Dumbledore!"

"You might as well come out and surrender, Patricia," Dumbledore said coolly. "You have nowhere to go."

"There is one place I can go, where you can't follow me," she replied. "Do me a favor, Minerva! Put whatever's left of me in the Owlery, with my kindred spirits."

"Patricia, don't do this!" Minerva said sadly.

"I wasn't made for Azkaban," Rakepick replied. She thrust her wand in the air. 

"Fiendfyre!"

A wall of flame erupted from her wand, quickly obscuring the inside of the bubble. The flames doubled back on themselves, rebounding off the magical barrier, unable to penetrate it. Regulus thought he heard a cry, or maybe a laugh, but then just the roar of the enchanted fire. And then it was over. The fire disappeared, and so did the Shield Bubble. Where it had been there was nothing left but a black scorch mark on the stone floor and a small pile of ash.

The three of them stared at the aftermath in silence for a few seconds. Then Dumbledore walked over and placed one hand each on the shoulder of McGonagall and Regulus.

"Are either of you injured?"

They both shook their heads.

"You said...Jacob is dead?" Dumbledore asked Regulus, now letting his steel exterior drop.

"Yes...he's in her office."

"Bellatrix Black was killed in the Great Hall," Minerva added. "Mr. Filch is watching over the body while Pomona and Filius are getting the students back to their dormitories."

"Thank you, Minerva," Dumbledore said. 

"Do you want me to...show you what happened?" Regulus said hollowly, not particularly eager to relive the experience.

"Later Regulus. For now, I want you to go with Professor McGonagall, alright?"

"Yes, come with me, Mr. Black," McGonagall said, slinging an arm around his shoulders and steering him away from what was left of Patricia Rakepick. "After all this excitement, I could do with a cup of tea and some biscuits in my office. I didn't even get to finish my lunch!"

Regulus snorted with laughter in spite of himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the smug little smile on McGonagall's face, and he felt the ball of emotion in his gut start to loosen and disperse.


	21. Chapter 21

Regulus didn't leave Professor McGonagall's office for the rest of the day. Neither did she: she stayed there, with him, while chaos reigned at Hogwarts. As the school was put into lockdown and thoroughly searched for anyone else that wasn't supposed to be there. As Dumbledore contacted the Ministry, and a flock of Aurors led by the new Minister of Magic, Harold Minchum, descended on the castle. As Jacob's grief stricken parents came to Hogwarts, to be comforted by Professor Dumbledore and to leave with their son's body.

Regulus had a stream of visitors throughout the rest of the day. From Professor Dumbledore and the Minister, who listened as Regulus dispassionately described what had happened. The Pensieve was brought in and the memories were played for all present.

"I didn't want to kill her," he finished, staring at the floor. "I didn't want to, you know."

"You did what you had to do, Mr. Black. It was self defense, you can't be held responsible for protecting yourself from a madwoman," the Minister said.

Next was Sirius, who was allowed to come to the office to assure himself that his brother was alright.

"James and I weren't in the Great Hall when it happened," Sirius said, after they'd hugged. "But Peter was. He told us. Christ, Reggie, it really is always you, isn't it?"

"At least she can't hurt us anymore," Regulus replied.

Andromeda was next. She and Professor McGonagall agreed that there was no reason for Regulus to stay at school for the rest of the term. He was to be given credit for the exams he hadn't taken yet and to go home with Andromeda, once the school was cleared and the preliminary investigation of the incident concluded. The school was going to be a madhouse of media attention over the final weeks of term, and Andromeda argued that there was no reason to expose Regulus to that. Then she left to confer with Professor Dumbledore.

Madam Pomfrey came to check them both for injuries and to administer a Pepper-Up Potion. Aurors came by to test Regulus' wand since it had been used by Bellatrix to perform a (unsuccessful) Killing Curse. She'd used her own wand to murder Jacob, probably in a fit of carelessness when he came through the door unexpectedly. That was the only reason he didn't fling his own wand away from him in disgust.

Between the visitors, Professor McGonagall and Regulus talked. Well, mostly McGonagall talked and Regulus listened. They talked about Regulus' future plans for after Hogwarts (Regulus wasn't really sure yet, McGonagall assured him that was perfectly alright), and how Regulus liked his classes. She talked about her own Hogwarts days, and showed him very advanced Transfiguration spells, allowing him to attempt them (and nodding approvingly at his results). She talked about the finer points of being an Animagus and asked Regulus, with a wry smile, how he enjoyed being a cat.

"Does your cat form have a name?" Regulus asked her. She replied that Professor Dumbledore had nicknamed her transformed self "Tabby" or "Tabs", and she'd just kinda stuck with it.

******

The days following the incident were crazy. The Daily Prophet picked up the story the next day, and soon it was all Wizarding Britain could talk about. Regulus was mostly insulated from this, since he was ensconced at home with Andromeda, Ted, and Nymphadora, but he read the paper and listened to the news radio like everyone else did. When Ted and Andromeda went to work, they had to dodge questions from journalists, and Regulus found himself getting a lot of mail. It sat there in a great stack on the counter until Ted got home and could check it for anything harmful. Then, if Regulus felt like opening it, he did. And if he didn't, well, it sat there until he felt like it.

Regulus mostly spent his time in his room, avoiding Nymphadora's babysitter, a sweet old lady who apparently thought Regulus was about five years old. It only took him a few days to finish all the summer homework that Hogwarts had assigned him, so he was left plenty of time to brood.

Could he have done something differently? That thought haunted him. Sure, nobody blamed him for what happened, in fact everyone seemed to agree that he'd behaved quite heroically, again. He was starting to garner quite a reputation for himself, if he wasn't careful, he'd become as big of a celebrity as Harry Potter ended up being. Ugh! There were the comparisons again, the ones he made in his head between this new version of himself and a boy who wasn't even born yet.

The other thought that bothered him was: what would have happened if he'd stayed in his old timeline? Would Jacob still be alive? There had been no mention of him in the first three Potter books, no mention of Patricia Rakepick either. Or Bellatrix, for that matter. So he had no way of knowing, and he wasn't sure he really wanted to know.

He had decided not to go to Jacob's funeral. He didn't want to draw attention away from the boy any more than he already had. The truth was, they'd shared a dormitory for three years, but Regulus didn't know him that well, they weren't friends. Regulus spent too much time with his brother and HIS friends to really get close to anyone in his own year. Jacob's parents had sent him a nice note, though, telling him that they didn't blame him for what happened and they were glad he wasn't hurt. Regulus hadn't managed to write back yet, he wasn't sure what to say.

When Sirius came home, he came to see Regulus in his room.

"There was talk of you getting another Award for Services to the School when we were leaving," Sirius told him.

"Yeah, Dumbledore wrote to ask me about it. I told him I didn't want it."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to be honored for killing someone, Siri! My own cousin, bad as she was. I'd just look at that shield and remember what I did, and I see that enough already. Jacob's parents deserve the awards, not me."

He found spending time as Shadow helped. He'd transform for long periods of time, curled up in a ball on his bed. It was easier to sleep that way, fewer bad dreams. He didn't leave the house as a cat though, not anymore. Not since an aggressive tomcat had pounced on him in the backyard. At first he thought it was some kind of territorial dispute, then, to his horror, he realized the blind old thing had mistaken him for a female and was trying to mate with him. He'd quickly transformed back and kicked the beast, chasing it away. He was determined not to tell anyone about the incident, or that he knew why the creature sat in the backyard at night yowling and waking everyone else up.

******

The Hogwarts Tragedy, as the incident became known, faded out of the news cycle about halfway through summer break. The only part of it that hadn't been dissected in detail was Rakepick's assertion that Lord Voldemort was behind the attacks and would soon come to Britain to make his war on the Muggleborns. That hadn't made it into the newspaper at all. Regulus figured that Dumbledore and the Ministry didn't want to tip their hand too soon, but he hoped they had a plan. In the meantime, the Prophet had a new cover story to get everyone worked up about.

"Excitement Builds for New Edition of Triwizard Tournament," Regulus read out loud at the breakfast table one morning. "The exciting spectacle, traditionally held once every twenty years, will take place this year at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in France. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore has confirmed that Hogwarts School will participate in this year's tournament by sending a contingent of 25 students to Beauxbatons. The celebrated tournament is viewed as a generational opportunity for the best young witches and wizards in Europe to meet each other and exchange ideas. When asked how the contingent of students will be selected, Professor Dumbledore responded that the Heads of the four Hogwarts Houses will decide who will go, to ensure that all the Houses are represented equally. The members of the Hogwarts party will be announced after the beginning of the school year."

"I'd forgotten all about the Triwizard Tournament," Andromeda said thoughtfully. "I was only four the last time it was played. But that'll be exciting, you'll get to see history unfold!"

"Only the students actually going to France are going to see history," Regulus replied. "I'm obviously too young. Could you see me as a Hogwarts Champion? No, I'll have to follow along in the Prophet like everyone else. Siri might get to go though."

"No way, McGonagall hates me," Sirius said.

"Now THAT is bollocks," Regulus said, rolling his eyes.

"Besides," Sirius said, as if he hadn't been interrupted, "If McGonagall is going to pick anyone from our dormitory, it's going to be James."

"That's probably true," Regulus agreed.

"Just as long as the Goblet doesn't pick one of those wanker Slytherins," Sirius said, cringing.

"Hey! No Slytherin bashing at the table! We made a rule!" Andromeda protested.

"Yes, cousin dear," Sirius said with a grin, sounding not at all sorry.

It was weird, Regulus thought later. He could remember the Tournament happening the first time around, but he could remember NOTHING about it. He couldn't even tell you who the Champion from Hogwarts was, who won the thing, not even who at the school went to Beauxbatons for it. Why didn't he remember anything about his fourth year? Oh. Oh wait. Yes he did. And now he remembered why he went out of his way to avoid any mention of the bloody Triwizard Tournament.

Well, shit, he thought to himself. Here we go again.


	22. Chapter 22

Regulus first noticed things would be different this year when he got off the Hogwarts Express, and saw the thestrals pulling the carriages. Of course, he knew they pulled the carriages all the time, but normally they were invisible...unless you've seen death firsthand. Regulus sighed and gave one of them a quick pat before slipping into the carriage, not saying anything about it.

Regulus got some stares as he entered the Great Hall, something he anticipated and ignored. Most of the school hadn't seen him since his confrontation with Bellatrix in the Great Hall, but flanked as he was by his friends, nobody dared ask him any questions. People instead congratulated Remus on being named a prefect this year, while further down the table, Lily Evans got the same treatment.

After the welcome feast, everything was normal until Regulus walked into the dormitory, and spotted Jacob's bed, neatly made up in its usual place. It was traditional, when a student died before completing their Hogwarts education, that their bed is left in its place until their class graduates. Gone but not forgotten and all that.

Frank Longbottom saw where he was looking. 

"Regulus," he said softly, "You know nobody blames you for what happened, right? It wasn't your fault."

Regulus blinked, then looked at Frank. "Yeah, I'm not sleeping in here."

"Wait, Regulus..."

"I said I'm not sleeping in here, Frank!"

In the end, Regulus ended up sleeping on one of the couches in the common room. He wasn't sure if he was ever going to be able to sleep in that dormitory again.

******

For the first time, it took Regulus longer than one night to read the latest missive from Harry Potter's world. The tome was massive, twice as big as any of the other books. The size of the book, combined with the fact that he could only read it for a few hours at a time since he lacked the privacy of his four poster bed in the common room, meant it took him a week to finish it.

During Harry Potter's fourth year, the Triwizard Tournament was also held, which made sense because the book is supposed to take place 20 years in the future. The Hogwarts edition of the tournament is supposed to only be available to those who are 17 or older, but Harry gets picked as a fourth champion by the Goblet of Fire after someone bewitched it to think there were four schools instead of three.

In addition to following Harry's progress through the tournament, it revealed several interesting tidbits of information that were relevant to Regulus' time period. Harry saw a Pensieve memory of Wizengamot court trials in the aftermath of Lord Voldemort's downfall, including one where a captured Death Eater, Igor Karkaroff, named other members of the organization in a bid to save himself from Azkaban. Regulus took note of all the names: Dolohov, Rosier (who Regulus was delighted to discover had died in a fight with the Aurors), Travers, Mulciber, and Rookwood. He was also interested to note that Severus Snape had apparently been a Death Eater as well, but at some point he'd turned spy for Dumbledore.

In another memory, he'd uncovered an ugly story: Bellatrix, who apparently married that creep she hung around, Rodolphus Lestrange, had, along with her husband, brother in law, and Barty Crouch Junior, committed an atrocity soon after Voldemort's defeat. They'd captured Frank Longbottom and his wife Alice (probably Hufflepuff fourth year Alice Forteseque), and used the Cruciatus Curse on them to torture them until they both suffered permanent brain damage. Regulus had obviously taken Bellatrix out of the game, but the Lestrange brothers were added to the list of people to keep track of.

Barty Crouch Junior, it seemed, was responsible for the story's crisis. He'd been broken out of Azkaban by his father, and Peter Pettigrew, at Voldemort's behest, had found him and overpowered Crouch Senior. Barty Junior had disguised himself as Alastor Moody, that year's Defense teacher, and went to Hogwarts to set Harry Potter up in the tournament. Voldemort underwent some arcane ritual to get his body back, using Harry's blood (and which also involved Pettigrew cutting off his own hand), and even more Death Eaters appeared: Malfoy, Crabbe, Avery, Macnair. Voldemort duelled Harry Potter, and something interesting came to light: their two wands were brothers, they shared tail feather cores from the same phoenix, and when they duelled each other, their spells met in midair and clashed in a beam struggle, because twin cored wands weren't supposed to fight each other.

Regulus now possessed that wand, the one Harry Potter used, the one that shared a core with Lord Voldemort's wand. That was food for thought.

******

The whole school was in a tizzy about the Triwizard Tournament. There was much speculation about who was going to be picked to spend most of the school year in France: one boy and one girl in 5th, 6th, and 7th years from each house. Dumbledore was allowing McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, and Slughorn to pick their own students. The list was going to be posted at the end of September, and the group would leave for Beauxbatons two weeks later.

Regulus, sleeping in the common room and absorbing the details of the Potter book, didn't pay much attention to the gossip. He didn't think much of the tournament at all, for that matter. That was, until....

"Mr. Black, stay behind a moment please," Professor McGonagall called out as that day's Transfiguration class wrapped up and the students packed their bags. Regulus looked up at her, confused. But he approached the desk after he'd gathered his things, thoroughly confused as to what she wanted.

"I understand you are fluent in French, is that correct?" she asked him, after gesturing for him to have a seat across from her desk.

"Oh! Um...yes, Sirius and I both are. Our parents made us learn it at the same time we learned English." 

It was an old money pureblood tradition, made the Blacks seem "cultured," and Regulus hadn't really thought about it in years, except for when he read the occasional book in French.

"Good. So, I have a proposal for you, Mr. Black," the professor continued, baffling Regulus still further.

"Yes?"

"It has been decided that Professor Dumbledore will not stay at Beauxbatons with our student mission for the whole year, he'll be there for the three tasks and during the champion selection ceremony on Halloween, but the rest of the year, I will be chaperoning the students."

Regulus nodded to show he understood.

"Admittedly, my command of the French language is not great. So I'd like to have you along with us to serve as a translator."

It took Regulus a few seconds to understand what she meant.

"Wait, Professor, are you asking me to go along with the Hogwarts contingent to the Triwizard Tournament? Put my name in the Goblet of Fire, all that?"

"Yes, Mr. Black, that is exactly what I'm asking you," she said with a smile.

"I don't understand! I'm not old enough, that wouldn't be fair to Gryffindor, would it?"

"Well it's funny you bring that up, Regulus. You see, the Heads of House were left in a quandary by the selection process. Each House was allotted six students, for a total of 24. We needed to add a 25th student, but we couldn't agree on who to pick, since adding another student from any house wouldn't be fair to the rest. Your name came up and was the only one that we could all agree on."

Well that was....oddly flattering.

"Regulus," Professor McGonagall continued, "You're one of the brightest students in the school. And you happen to be one of the few I trust, to whom I owe a great deal. It's a great opportunity for you, and you'd be doing me a favor."

Regulus sighed internally. He was torn about whether or not to go. It meant being separated from his brother, for months, since there was no way Sirius was being picked as the 5th year student from Gryffindor. He was also kind of getting a bad vibe from the tournament, though maybe that was because he'd read the way the future tournament had been manipulated. On the other hand....it really was an honor to be asked to go, even as a translator, and it sounded like fun to spend a year in France.

"Alright, Professor," Regulus finally said, "I'll go."

******

When the announcement was made, it excited everyone. As predicted, James Potter was the 5th year Gryffindor boy picked to go. To James' delight, Lily was the 5th year girl picked. 

"How'd you manage to get an invite?" Sirius demanded when he saw the name "Regulus Black" at the bottom of the list.

"Should have spoken French in front of McGonagall," Regulus replied smoothly, "she wants me to be a translator for her."

Sirius kicked at the air. "Damn it!"

"I seriously doubt that McGonagall would be insane enough to invite both James AND you along on the trip, Sirius," Remus said, laughing. "No doubt you'd cause an international incident after blowing up the French school."

"You say that like Reggie ISN'T complicit in everything we do here!" Sirius protested.

"The difference is, Reggie doesn't get caught," James pointed out.

"Seriously little brother, good for you, you deserve it. Bet you get picked to be the champion!"

"No way, that's gonna be me!" James insisted.

Other names Regulus recognized included Marlene McKinneon, a sixth year Gryffindor, Quirrell and Lockhart from Ravenclaw, and Snape, Mulciber, and Travers from Slytherin.

******

The next two weeks passed by in a flurry of activity. The students picked to go to Beauxbatons were pulled from their normal classes, given instruction on French and Beauxbatons customs, how to act around their hosts, and a crash course in French (Regulus was excused from this lesson.)

There was also a whole entry ceremony that Hogwarts traditionally performed when travelling to either Beauxbatons or Durmstrang for the tournament, that the students were made to practice out on the lawn, so that they didn't embarrass the school in front of their foreign peers (Professor McGonagall was particularly adamant on that point, giving James a significant look as she did so.)

The night before they were scheduled to leave, Sirius came to see Regulus in the common room.

"Frank told me you've been sleeping down here," he said, sitting on the end of the couch Regulus was on. "You should have said something, you could have slept in our dorm."

"Where, on the floor?" Regulus said, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, tomorrow night I'll be sleeping in the Pyrenees, so I won't have to worry about it, will I?"

"Well, anyway," Sirius said, chuckling, "That isn't why I came down here. Take this."

He handed Regulus a small, square mirror. 

"It's enchanted," Sirius said, nodding at it. "All you have to do is say my name into it, and I'll hear it, and my face will appear in your mirror and yours in mine, and we can talk, whenever you want."

"That's really cool, Siri," Regulus said, impressed. 

"It was something I'd been playing with, to talk to James when we were in separate detentions," Sirius said, making Regulus roll his eyes. If he put half the effort into his schoolwork that he did his mischief....

"Anyway, I want you to stay in touch while you're away, alright? Letters aren't gonna do it."

"I hear you, Siri," Regulus said, smiling at his brother. "Don't get into too much trouble while we're gone."

"I should be telling YOU that, Reggie. Trouble follows after you wherever you go."

"It really does, doesn't it?" Regulus sighed.


	23. Chapter 23

"It's bullshit, is what it is!" Lily was complaining, like she had been for the last hour. 

"Did you know that Beauxbatons has a carriage pulled by flying horses? And Durmstrang has a ship that can appear in any body of water almost instantly? And what does Hogwarts have? A circus tent."

The Hogwarts contingent was indeed traveling inside of a cloth canopy the size of a big top. It was currently bobbing in the air, hanging from a bunch of large balloons enchanted to prevent them from popping. Professor Flitwick was driving the thing, using what looked like a ship's tiller to steer it. 

The inside of the tent was kitted out with dorm rooms, a large common room, bathrooms with working plumbing (don't ask how THAT worked), even a magical lending library that allowed students to borrow books from the Hogwarts library, they were conjured back and forth as needed. This is where they would be living once they got to Beauxbatons, going inside the school for meals and to take classes as needed. The only problem was, it was going to take several hours for this ungainly contraption to make the trip to the French school. And some were taking it less well than others.

"Oh, I'm going to be sick," Lily said, clapping her hand over her mouth and bolting out of the dorm room, probably making for the nearest bathroom.

There were eight dormitories in all: four large ones, two each for boys and girls (the Gryffindors were sharing with the Ravenclaws, and the Hufflepuffs with the Slytherins). The other four were smaller: one for Professor McGonagall, one for Professor Dumbledore when he stayed over, one reserved for the Hogwarts champion, when they were selected, and a spare one for guests, like family members or Ministry officials. 

Regulus wasn't really bothered by the gentle bobbing of the tent as it floated on the wind. It wasn't that different from being on a broom, and the structure was so large that if you didn't look out the window, you could mistake the rocking motion for being on a ship at sea.

What he WAS bothered by though, was Gilderoy Lockhart. Regulus already had a bad impression of the Ravenclaw 6th year because of the stunts he pulled in the second Potter chronicle, but he'd been willing to give this version of Lockhart the benefit of the doubt since he didn't know him. And then the boy had opened his mouth.

"My God, if Evans can't handle a little airsickness, how is she going to handle the tournament? Guess we know who isn't going to be picked by the Goblet of Fire, eh?"

"Do you ever shut up?" James said irritably. "You've been running your trap since we took off!"

"I'm just stating facts, Potter! No need to take up for your girlfriend, mate."

"You're lucky she's not my girlfriend, mate, or I'd be teaching you how to fly without a broomstick," James growled. 

Lockhart paled. "You wouldn't dare!"

"It's amazing the power a simple Memory Charm can have," Regulus said idly, giving Lockhart an obnoxious smile. Obviously Lockhart couldn't know what he was talking about, but the fact that Regulus knew was enough for him.

Lockhart bristled and went to go sit with the other two Ravenclaw boys. James turned to Regulus.

"Well, now he's dealt with, what should we do now?"

"You can do whatever you want," Regulus said, lying back on his bed. "I'm going to take a nap."

James smirked. "Amazing how much better you sleep when it's an actual bed and not a lumpy common room couch."

"Oh shut up, Jamie," Regulus said, and twitched the curtains closed.

******

Regulus woke up with the world rattling around him. The flying tent had just come in for a landing, and when he pulled back the curtains, he saw the other boys in the room crowded around the windows. Regulus made his way over and gasped when he got a look outside.

The Palais de Beauxbatons was quite simply, spectacular. The main building was an elegantly constructed chateau, four stories high with a steeply sloped roof. Two tall circular stone towers stood on either side of the main building, probably providing a spectacular view of the grounds. 

And what a view it was, at least from where they were in the front. The grounds were made up of a series of interconnected gardens and walkways, featuring a wide variety of colorful flowers and carefully manicured greenery. The centerpiece of the gardens was a large fountain, stacked three layers high like a wedding cake and topped with a statue of two people on it, Regulus was too far away to make out any detail on it. 

"Do you reckon it's like this all year or did they decorate to impress us visitors?" James asked.

"Probably a combination of both," Regulus said. 

"Really puts our shabby old castle to shame, doesn't it?" commented the seventh year Gryffindor boy, whose name Regulus didn't know.

There was a crackle from the speaker in the ceiling. 

"Mister Black, please come to the entrance of the tent. Mister Black to the entrance, please."

Regulus pulled his hair back into a bun and straightened his tie. 

"Go on, Reggie," James said, nodding towards the door. "Don't make her wait, she's already having kittens as it is."

"Is that some kind of Animagus joke?" Regulus said, raising an eyebrow.

James just laughed as Regulus left the room. 

At the entrance to the tent, he found Professor McGonagall with a strained smile on her face as a man chattered at her excitedly in French. Regulus quickly approached them, introduced himself, and explained that he would be acting as Professor McGonagall's translator since she didn't speak the language. The man looked scandalized that anyone would be unwilling to learn "la belle langue," but smiled at him and started to explain again.

"This is Prof de Magie DuGard, he's been appointed our liaison," Regulus explained.

"He's our liaison and he doesn't speak English?" Professor McGonagall said, sounding exasperated despite the fact that she kept the smile on her face.

"Not a word," Regulus confirmed.

"Oh that is delightful. Can you please ask him where we're supposed to do now?"

"He says that the student body and Headmistress are waiting for us in the dining hall. He wants us to form up outside the tent and then he'll lead us there and we can make our entrance with the fireworks and such."

"Is that what he said? 'With the fireworks and such?'"

"He actually said a lot of very flowery things that I skipped past to get to the point."

"You know me so well, Regulus."

The students were arranged outside the tent into two rows, organized by height. Regulus, being the shortest of the students, ended up in the last row.

"I will only say this once," Professor McGonagall said, turning her stern gaze upon her charges. "You are representing not only our school, but all of Wizarding Britain right now. Do NOT do anything to embarrass us. Anyone who does will incur my extreme displeasure, as well as a Portkey back to Hogwarts. Am I understood?"

It was perhaps fortunate that Sirius wasn't here to egg James on. Together they might have taken that admonishment as a challenge. 

The group marched down the center pathway, around the giant fountain, and towards the front doors of the chateau, which opened for them as they approached. The entrance hall was dominated by a grand central staircase which branched off in different directions as it led to the upper floors. They were led around the staircase and stopped in front of a large set of double doors behind it. Prof DuGard disappeared into a side door. He had already explained earlier, through Regulus, that he would go inform the Headmistress that they were there, she would announce them and the doors would open, and then they'd go in.

They could hear the buzz of conversation from behind the doors, as some of the students fidgeted nervously. Regulus did not, he was focused on what he had to do. He had one of the most important roles in the ceremony after all. Then the room beyond the doors grew quiet, and with a creak, the doors swung inward. Professor McGonagall, standing to the side of the double row of students, waved her wand, and in they went.

The Hogwarts contingent marched into the dining hall of Beauxbatons with as much pomp and flair as you might expect from a magic school trying to show off to another magic school. The first two students led the procession, holding aloft T shaped poles with the Hogwarts banner suspended from them. The next nine rows of students held their wands aloft, the tips alight with different colors depending on what house they were in. Behind them came a solo student, leading the last four, the shortest member of each House in the group. Regulus, as the Gryffindor, had used the spell he'd been taught to conjure a blood red lion phantom that hung in the air above his head. It was joined by a blue eagle, a yellow badger, and a green snake. The phantoms twisted around each other in the air, swooping over the heads of the Beauxbatons students, who gasped and tittered. 

Every student was wearing special shoes that made a satisfying metallic clicking noise when it made contact with the floor. Heatless sparks shot out from the shoes with each step, activated by McGonagall's spell at the start of the ceremony. She now followed after her charges as the head of the procession reached the front of the room. The two standard bearers stopped when they got there, did an about face, and stood facing the students of Beauxbatons. The 18 students that had their wands aloft split off and lined up on either side of the standard bearers in a single line. When the last five students got to the front, they formed a second line, with the solo student in the middle and the four House mascot bearers on either side of him. The middle student now waved his wand, and the four House phantoms came together to form the Hogwarts Crest, shining brightly overhead. Regulus and the other three students who'd conjured the phantoms shot off a firework in the color of their House that exploded around the crest, while the other students in the back row shot golden sparks into the air that fell like a waterfall. 

The blue clad French students stood up and applauded a performance that from Regulus' perspective, had gone off without a hitch. A woman seated behind them in the center of the top table, presumably the Headmistress, stood up and came around to see them, smiling. And holy SHIT was this woman tall! 

"Professor McGonagall!" the Headmistress said, bending down to do the traditional French greeting with her counterpart (lip smacks that were supposed to be kisses but didn't make contact with each cheek.)

"Madame Maxine," McGonagall said, looking distinctly uncomfortable, probably because like most British people, she felt the French were WAY too touchy feely.

"Welcome to Beauxbatons!" Madame Maxine said, in thickly accented English. "We are happy that you made it, and what a wonderful performance!"

"Thank you for welcoming us," McGonagall said. "I have a student here who can translate if you'd prefer to speak in your native language."

"How thoughtful, thank you!" Maxine said, smiling, and McGonagall waved Regulus over. 

"My English is not bad, but still, if you speak our language, all the better!" Madame Maxine said to him after he'd introduced himself and started talking to her in French.

They got the Hogwarts students settled at a table set aside for them, next to another table for the Durmstrang students, who hadn't arrived yet. Professor McGonagall was seated at the Head Table, next to Madame Maxine. And Regulus of course, had to sit next to her, which was weird, looking down on all the students like an authority figure.

The Durmstrang contingent arrived soon after. Their ship popped up in the lake that was situated at the bottom of the very steep hill behind the palace, which could be seen through the expansive windows that dominated the wall at the back of the Dining Hall. Regulus watched as those students disembarked the ship and were bustled into what looked like a chair lift that took them up the hill to the palace. A few minutes later, they made their own bombastic entrance into the hall, complete with a firebreathing student and magical staffs that they whirled around. Their Headmaster, a severe looking man named Stratovinsky, joined the head table. 

The feast rivalled that of anything Hogwarts did, though the food was obviously different. Regulus watched with mirth as James picked at one of the dishes, a look of horror on his face. Regulus, meanwhile, had enjoyed French food before, and enjoyed it again now. The conversation went mostly smoothly, with Regulus translating for McGonagall, Madame Maxine even asked him some questions, about how he learned French, what year he was in, so on. Stratovinsky, it seemed, spoke both French and English, and directed his few comments directly at the other two adults, not paying any attention to Regulus, which was fine with him.

When the feast was over, the doors opened again, and some dignitaries came into the hall. Led by the French Minister of Magic, they carried with them a large casket, which Regulus knew to contain the Goblet of Fire. They set the casket down on a small table in front of the Head Table, and the French Minister gave a boring speech about how important the Triwizard Tournament was, and how excited the French Magical Government was to host it this edition. Then, as was tradition, he called on Madame Maxine to officially open the Tournament by lighting the Goblet of Fire. 

The Goblet was removed from the casket and set on the table, and Maxine waved her wand and a burst of green flame came from it, prompting applause from the hall. It was explained that, for the next two weeks, any student who wanted to put their name forward as champion should write their name and school on a piece of paper and throw it into the Goblet, which would be here in the Dining Hall. On Halloween night, the Goblet would spit out the names of the three champions and the Tournament would begin in earnest.

Then, dessert was served, featuring a selection of pastries, soft cheeses, and a special kind of magical champagne that was safe for minors to drink because it couldn't get you drunk. It was so blatantly French that Regulus wanted to laugh. 

A tall, swarthy boy with blonde hair walked up to the Head Table.

"Shall I dismiss the students, Mistress?" He asked Madame Maxine. 

"Go ahead, Francois," she replied. As the boy turned, he caught Regulus' eye, and flashed him a quick smile. Regulus' insides turned to jelly as he realized who it was.

Oh shit! It's HIM!

******

Regulus was lying in bed that night, puzzling in his mind. The blonde boy, Regulus knew him. Well not KNEW him, but knew OF him. Francois Levant, the Beauxbatons school champion the first time around. He'd had his picture in the Daily Prophet, along with the other champions. The reason why he knew who Francois was and not the other two was simple: he had been unable to keep himself from staring at the guy's photograph.

Before his fourth year, the first time around, he hadn't really thought much about who was attractive and who wasn't. But in fourth year, puberty set in, HARD, and he started paying attention to that stuff. It was Francois Levant that made him realize that boys, in his opinion, were just as, if not more, attractive than girls. And as soon as he'd made that realization, it had scared the HELL out of him, because he knew that wasn't a thought he was supposed to be having. Respectable purebloods were supposed to marry women, and have children, thus continuing the bloodline. It wasn't that same sex relationships were scorned in the wizarding world, not nearly as badly as they were in the Muggle world, anyway. It was just, coming from a family like his, any deviation from the norm wasn't acceptable, especially if you were expected to become the heir, like Regulus had been when Sirius ran away.

So, he'd pushed those feelings deep into some locked box in his mind, never to be acknowledged. And he'd stopped caring about the Triwizard Tournament, so that he wouldn't be tempted to unlock the box. Seeing the guy in person had brought all these feelings to the surface that he hadn't properly evaluated in years. So he guessed he had to do it now.

The question was, would it be so bad? He'd accidently let slip his bisexual status to Remus last year, and that jerk had dropped hints about it to his brother and other friends that one time, and nobody had freaked out. He'd stopped giving a damn what pureblood society had to say about him the moment he'd gone back in time. So he could, you know, if he wanted to. Date a boy, instead of a girl.

Someone taller than him, that would be nice. Not that THAT would be hard to find, ugh. He'd never been kissed before. Nobody had ever WANTED to kiss him before. The old him wasn't exactly....likeable. Or approachable. He wondered what that would be like, kissing a boy versus kissing a girl. A boy would be rougher, maybe. Like press him up against a wall rougher. Their lips would be chapped, but warm, and soft, and...WOAH!

Regulus sat bolt upright in bed. This...line of thought was going down a road he wasn't sure about yet. He slipped out of bed and padded down to the bathroom, splashing his face with cold water and then staring hatefully down at the bulge in his pajama pants like it had personally offended him.

Then he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. 

"Mate, you've got to get ahold of yourself. Right now isn't the best time to be having a crisis like this," he told his reflection in the mirror. Then his eyes widened. His voice, it had cracked, just now. Was he going through puberty? Right now? Are you fucking kidding me?

Maybe if he banged his head against the mirror it would break and the broken glass would impale his brain and just put him out of his misery right here. No such luck though. The mirrors were enchanted against breaking, so all he did was bop his head against it until a voice that sounded suspiciously like Lily Evans' yelled out for him to shut the fuck up and go to sleep.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize in advance for my terrible French.

Prof DuGard took the Hogwarts students on a tour of the palace and gardens the next day. The fountain, it turned out, featured statues of Nicholas Flamel and his wife. The Flamels were two of Beauxbatons' most celebrated alumni, and donated huge sums to the school, presumably derived from the endless supply of gold they had thanks to the Philosopher's Stone. 

The Hogwarts students were integrated into existing Beauxbatons classes, each student paired with a student who spoke English. Regulus got put in with the fifth years, and was paired as a class translator for James.

He talked to Sirius on the mirror every other day (the alternate day being reserved for James to have his "Siri time" as he called it).

"Remy and Pete and I have started working on something," Sirius told him one night.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Regulus said, though he suspected he already knew.

"It's a surprise for when you guys get back. But trust me, it'll be great."

"Oh I believe you, Siri."

"Good! You better! Now, anyway, how are things with you, Reggie?"

"I...oh, they're fine. Just getting used to this weird French school, you know."

"You're hesitating on me, little brother, what is it?"

When the hell did Sirius get so perceptive? The old version of him couldn't figure SHIT out, what happened? GOD it was annoying!

"Oh, alright you nosey bastard. I...I figured something out recently."

"What did you figure out?"

"I've...well I've recently.....I find that I think boys are, you know....attractive."

".....Are you trying to tell me that you're gay, Reggie?"

"No, not that! I mean, I find girls attractive too! But yeah, like both of them I guess? Boys and girls?"

Good lord this was the worst, Regulus could just about DIE.

"So, bisexual then?"

"I....yeah. That."

".....Thank you for telling me, Reggie."

"Is that...I mean is that okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be okay?"

Regulus didn't answer, so Sirius continued.

"I get it, I do. But seriously, Regulus, it's okay. If Dumbledore can carry on in secret with Armando Dippet like a million years ago, it's okay for you to like whoever you want, right?"

"That's just a rumor, Siri," Regulus laughed.

"It makes sense though, doesn't it? Besides, I know one that isn't a rumor. Haven't you ever wondered why Uncle Alphard never married?"

"Narcissa said he was a 'confirmed bachelor,' whatever that means."

"Reggie, 'confirmed bachelor' is a code word for 'has affairs with other men.' It means that he's going to stay unmarried forever because he finds women unattractive."

"Wait, how do you know that and I don't?"

"Because it's not written in a book anywhere, you little swot."

"Oi! Shut up!"

Later that night, right before signing off, Regulus cleared his throat.

"Thank you, Siri. You know, for earlier."

Sirius flashed him a smile. "You and me against the world, right?"

"Right."

******

In France, they don't celebrate Halloween. At least, they didn't at Beauxbatons. The Goblet of Fire was instead set to spit out the names of the three champions the next day, November 1st, All Saint's Day, or La Toussaint. There were no lessons that day, and Regulus watched out the window of the tent as a parade of family members trekked up the grounds to pick up their children for the traditional trip to the cemetery to honor departed loved ones. It was a good thing that, as a Catholic holiday, it wasn't celebrated in Britain, Regulus didn't have anyone he wanted to visit, and it sounded like a depressing holiday anyway.

No one was talking much in the Hogwarts tent. Everyone was filled with a sense of nervous excitement, waiting for the celebration feast that evening. All the students knew that there was a chance that they could be selected as school champion, but nonetheless, there were some that were considered more likely than others.

Gilderoy Lockhart certainly seemed to think it was him, unlike everyone else, he was strutting around the tent bragging about how he was going to look in the press photographs. The Slytherins had rallied around Mulciber, except for Snape, who came to find Regulus "just so he wouldn't have to hear the assholes run their mouths."

The consensus in the Gryffindor camp, meanwhile, had settled on James Potter. It was an obvious choice: Potter was the Quidditch captain, one of the most popular students in school, and certainly had magical talent. He also looked the part, effortlessly good looking in a way that Lockhart wasn't. 

That didn't stop him from occasionally like a damned idiot, though.

"Hey Evans!" James called out around lunchtime, a picnic affair in the tent's common room, "If I become champion will you go out with me then?"

"I swear to God, Potter," Lily retorted, brandishing a sandwich at him, "if you're picked as champion I'm going bloody home!"

"Why do you continue to antagonize her?" Regulus asked in an undertone. "You have to know she's not going to say yes."

"I mean, you're not wrong," James replied. "Honestly, it's almost tradition at this point. If I suddenly stopped asking her out, everyone would get suspicious, especially her."

Snape looked at James like he'd grown a second head. Regulus, however, just shook his head with a smile. What a goofy fuck.

"Never change, James. Never change."

******

As they were walking up to the school for the feast, James pulled Regulus aside.

"Are you nervous, Reggie?"

"No, why would I be?"

James looked at him incredulously and gestured around as if to say "What do you think I mean?"

"James, the Goblet isn't going to pick me, I'm only 14! I'm here as a translator! The question is, are YOU nervous? You're the one that's gonna get it."

"I'm really nervous, yeah. I wish you wouldn't sell yourself short like that, Reggie. You put your name in just like everyone else."

"Yeah well, come on. I'm hungry and we should get in there before all the soul cakes are gone."

James trailed after him as he walked back towards the building.

"Wait, hang on....what the hell is a soul cake?"

******

The feast was delicious. Regulus was sitting with the other Hogwarts students this time, since Professor Dumbledore was here, he was the one at the head table with McGonagall. There wasn't a lot of talk, people kept glancing nervously at the Goblet of Fire as though it was going to explode. Regulus seemed the only one relaxed at the table, confident that he wasn't going to be picked and realizing that it didn't bother him that much.

At the end of the feast, Madame Maxine stood up and clapped her hands, clearing the tables.

"C'est l'heure," she said, and the Beauxbatons students quieted immediately. 

"It's time," Regulus repeated in an undertone, and the Hogwarts table was quiet too.

Maxine, followed by Dumbledore and Stratovinsky, made their way down from the head table to the Goblet, as the lights dimmed in the dining hall. People were shaking hands and wishing each other luck at the Hogwarts table. Regulus grabbed James' hand.

"Good luck Jamie, I hope it's you," he whispered. James didn't reply, he looked ready to throw up.

Everyone waited, hardly breathing, staring at the Goblet. No one knew for sure what order the school champion selections would come out in, it was always random. The color of the flames would tell them.

Suddenly, the Goblet made a whooshing noise, and the orange flames turned a deep crimson. Durmstrang first, then. A piece of paper shot upwards out of the Goblet, floating down until it was caught by Maxine on the tip of her wand. 

"Le champion de l'école pour Durmstrang Institut sera....Antonin Dolohov!"

The Durmstrang table cheered, while the rest of the room politely applauded as a tall, sallow faced boy stood up and walked to the front of the room, where he was taken out a side door with Stratovinsky. Regulus did not join in with the applause, he looked on incredulously as the future Death Eater was picked as a champion. Was that creep picked the first time?

The applause tailed off, and now the Goblet's flames turned blue. Beauxbatons next.

"Le champion de l'école pour Beauxbatons Académie sera.....Francois Levant!"

The applause was much louder now, as the blue clad students cheered their obvious favorite. The smiling blonde boy made his way out of the room with another Beauxbatons professor, since Madame Maxine was needed to continue the ceremony. The Hogwarts table was deathly quiet, they knew it was their turn now.

The Goblet's flames now turned yellow, and a paper spat upwards to be caught by Madame Maxine.

"Le champion de l'école pour Hogwarts L'Ecole sera....."

Regulus was convinced that she was about to call out James' name. He looked to his friend, wanting to see the look on his face when....

"Regulus Black!"

Fucking WHAT?

******


End file.
